No Colors
by Erudite-Dauntless Girl
Summary: This year's Games are new and different: there are no colors but the white of the snow, the black of the deadly trees, and the crimson red blood of the fallen tributes. Who will make it past the first test? Who has the will to survive? Alliances, betrayals, and romance await.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

The Beginning: White, Black, and Red

_**Eve Alyssum, District Seven**_

I'm running for my life. I'm freezing cold, and I don't want to be here.

It's chaotic and dizzying, and my hand is numb.

I lost my mitten at the Cornucopia. And I can't feel my hand.

I have absolutely nothing with me except for the clothes on my back. I didn't manage to snag anything. People are still back there, fighting for everything. Clothes, weapons, and food. Things that will save their lives.

Things that I don't have.

But I can't afford to be this pessimistic. I have to think forward and keep moving. I focus on my running, pumping my arms back and forth steadily. I squint my eyes to keep the amount of snow on my eyelashes minimal. My throat stings from the cold every time I breathe in.

But I have to keep going.

I don't know where I'm going. I just need to get away.

I am thinking like this when I run straight into a tree. My face smacks into it first, and then my whole body hits it. My head is pounding terribly, and I feel a searing pain in my forehead. I feel a warm liquid drip from my nose, but it almost immediately freezes in place. I bring my numb hand to my nose and see the deep red blood on my deathly pale skin.

I notice another color.

A brown, blackish color spreading through my fingers.

Frostbite.

No. I might lose my hand. I can't let it get worse.

How do I stop it?

Without thinking, I rip the hat off of my head and jam my hand into it, wrapping the warm hat over my numb hand. I still can't feel anything, but I think this is a better solution than just letting it freeze.

But now my head is cold. My ears sting and burn from the whipping wind and snow. I remember that heat leaves quickest through the head and feet.

So I'm hurting myself more by doing this. I put the hat back on my head, and just stuff my hand into my jacket. I feel overwhelmed and frustrated and I want to be back home.

I want to go home.

But I can't. I have to run forward. So I do. I keep running, and I slam into more trees. I have to drop my pace. I slow down to a walk, and try to weave my way through the blackened trees. The wind doesn't abate or stop, either. It stays steady and strong, and nearly pushes me over. My lungs still sting when I breathe in.

_**Kaitlin Collmnec, District Four**_

Seconds after the gong sounds, I am off of my plate, sprinting into the middle.

I have no intentions of joining the brute from my district, Ryan, and the other bafoons that follow him around.

I just want to get in and out with no problem. People will know better than to mess with me: a skilled girl with a weapon.

I have no problem sprinting into the Cornucopia. I get as close as I possibly dare, and grab a gigantic grey backpack. Sliding it onto my back, I grab an axe near my foot, and come back to my feet.

Just as I stand up, a silver knife whizzes by, and just barely misses my forehead. I duck down as quickly as my body will allow me, but the knife still grazes my hairline. I gingerly touch my head, see the blood, and turn angrily to the direction in which the knife flew from.

That ugly boy from District Six. He is standing there, frozen, as a battle goes on around him, staring at me with stupid looking brown eyes. I narrow my eyes at him. He tried to kill me.

I am not a bloodthirsty person. Sure, I trained at home, but that's because I liked the thrill of the fight, the rush from fighting and winning. I would never want to intentionally harm someone. I'm just not that type of person.

But he tried to hurt me.

And that's one thing about me.

I have a _very_ short temper.

And this jerk-hole tried to kill me!

So, I take my axe and rush at this boy in anger. I slice my axe through the air. He ducks quickly, and springs back up once the axe is away from his head.

He silently grabs the bloody dagger that flew by my head and thrusts it at me. It just barely punctures my stomach, but I react immediately. I fly to the side, and take a swipe with my axe at his thigh. My aim is a bit off, but it still hits him in the knee. That'll be enough to disable him for a while.

I fasten the pack around myself, and take off into the dark looking forest, the freezing wind biting at my pink cheeks.

I have made it this far.

I'm ready.

_**Lexy Elbit, District Two**_

I'm smirking when the gong rings around the beautiful arena. I run in to the Cornucopia, giggling from glee as I see the wimps from the outer districts taking off.

I laugh even harder as I see the slightly brave ones come into the battle grounds and get murdered. My district partner, Aryan, grabs a spear in the mouth of the red Cornucopia and thrusts it into the stomach of some skinny blonde girl. Her cannon booms right away, and I see a boy that looks just like her turn around and look at us with fear. I bet they're brother and sister. Well, not anymore.

The cannons are continuous as we chop down the weaklings. My alliance partners Aryan, Ryan, Nic, and Kyja are strong and faithful. There's also that other District Four girl, Kaitlin, but she ditched. She seemed like a good fighter from what I saw, but she doesn't look loyal.

I grab a black backpack and sling it onto my slender shoulders. My white boots slightly crunch on the snow as I cross over to Aryan to help him with this one boy that's putting up a pretty good fight.

I can tell from the color of his coat that he's from Nine. He's got short blond hair and bright green eyes. He looks a lot like Ryan, but Ryan is taller.

Aryan grabs the boy's collar, and brings him face to face with himself.

"So, Nine, you thought you could get in here and get away?" Aryan barks.

I stand behind him and smirk. I'll let him have this kill.

"I did, Two," the boy yells back. He's got some fight left in him.

"What's your name, kid?" Aryan says, narrowing his eyes.

"Why should I tell you?" he replies, perfectly calm.

"Because your damned life depends on it!" Aryan screams.

"Whoa, there, buddy. It's Lukas. Jesus," the boy, Lukas, says.

"You're with us," Aryan grunts. "Come on."

"What if I don't want to 'be with you?'" Lukas asks mockingly.

"Then you're dead meat, right here, right now."

"Fine, fine."

So with that, we had the weak boy from Nine with us.

"Aryan, are you sure you want him with us? He might be some pussy weakling," I say, trying to reason with Aryan, although it was pretty much useless. Negotiating with Aryan was like negotiating with a feral cat: impossible.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Lexy. You got a problem with it?" Aryan snaps.

"Uh, well, no, but I don't know if he's the best choice for an ally."

"Just shut up. You're a girl, you don't know anything."

That asshole.

_**Chase Bondrush, District Three**_

She's gone.

Lindsey's gone.

She's dead.

My sister is dead.

I see the gigantic brute standing over her body, smiling.

Her cannon fires.

The spear drips my innocent sister's blood.

I stare in horror, and then the short girl with thick brown hair looks over at me, a look of almost understanding in her eyes. But then it is erased as she joins the murderer.

I have to go on now, for Lindsey.

The red blood is on the snow.

The black trees sway in the distance, beckoning us to join them.

And there's the glistening white snow, eluding us with its deathly beauty.

Will I survive in this terrible world without my sister?

I don't know if I will.

**A/N: Okay, so I started this story. I know, neither of my other ones are finished, but I just got this idea, and I really wanted to execute it, and I just started writing it. **

**The characters in this story are all loosely based off of my friends. The names I came up with are total anagrams of their real names. That took me such a long time to do! But I finally have all of their names down, and the sound halfway normal!**

**This isn't all of the characters covered yet. I will probably have two more chapters about the Bloodbath each with four points of view. **

**I like the idea of starting without the Reapings, so then you guys don't really know the characters yet. It makes them a bit mysterious, and I also didn't want to write the Reapings and the Capitol stuff. So I started right here, at the beginning of the Games!**

**Please read and review, and tell me who you like! Tell me who you hate! Tell me if you like this story, and want me to continue with it!**

**Au revoir! (Until later, French.)**

**Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

_**Nic Alrence, District One**_

I have my backpack and my sword. I have all I need, since the others can grab the food and other weapons. I don't know if we're staying here for the majority of the time, or if we're going to move out. I grab what I will want and need personally, because that's all I need to do: take care of myself.

Others can take care of themselves. In a world of dog-eat-dog, it's survival of the fittest.

And I am of the elite- the upper district alliance. People fear me. Not so much at home, in District One, but they sure as hell do here.

"Nic!" Lexy shouts, tearing my eyes from the blonde girl bleeding out onto the snow. "Come on! We're nearly done here! You want a kill?"

I'd had a bad feeling that she would ask me something like that. And honestly, I don't want to kill someone. Murder would hang on my conscience for eternity. I would never live it off.

But if I don't do it, they'll kill me and call me a wimp.

Damn, what do I do?

"Uh, no. Not now, at least. I'll have one…later," I yell back, but I end up running back over to where the rest of my alliance.

"Goddamn it!" Lexy screams. "What the hell is going on here?"

I run up to where she is and see her pointing at Ryan, the boy from Four, running off with the girl from Eight. What?

"Shit!" Lexy yells.

The last of the cannons boom, and there are dead bodies everywhere. The only colors are dark black, stark white, and bright red.

"Aryan is gone, Ryan ditched, the Four girl ditched, and you don't want to kill anyone, Nic! What in the hell am I going to do? This is one sorry-ass alliance, you guys," Lexy screams.

What have I gotten myself into?

This girl's seems like a total bitch.

I remind myself that I am here for survival- I don't associate with these people.

I will do what I can to make it out, and get home to District One, for my girlfriend Rachael.

If it means pretending to be some gigantic, stupid brute, I'll do it.

_**Aryan Alsowitz, District Two**_

I come in with the allies of mine, get some work done, and sneak away when Lexy and the others aren't paying any attention.

The ugly girl from District Four, the coward, hurt my secret ally. The boy from District Six – Joshua. We became friends and allies in training. An unlikely friendship, I know, but we were like immediate friends. He kind of reminds me of my brother, Dylan. Both are loud and rambunctious.

I run around the Cornucopia and see Josh bleeding out from his knee, into the bright white snow. He is deathly pale and sickly. I have to help him, and fast. The others will notice my absence and count me as a traitor. They already lost Ryan and Kaitlin, both of Four's tributes. I have to help them as well as my own ally.

"Shit, Josh!" I say, coming up to help him. "Who did this to you?"

"The-the- The Four girl, she, she, she hit me, and I fell and- and- and… And it hurts, Ar," Josh moans. "It hurts so much I can't feel it."

"Shit," I say again. He will bleed out, or get frostbite from the exposed flesh. Or gangrene.

"Wh-what?" he stutters.

"This is going to be cold, Josh. Like really, really freaking cold, but then it'll get warmer. Promise me not to freak out, okay?" I say, ignoring his words. "Do you think you can walk, man?"

No reply. He's really far gone. He is so close to unconsciousness.

I have to do something. And now, too.

I assess his injury. He can't walk. The blood has already dried and frozen around the ugly gash, but it continues to pump out.

I take him by his shoulders, grab under his armpits, and bare out against the cold winds of the cruel woods.

I enter into the black forest of spiky trees, dragging my near life-less ally behind me as I go.

I just need to get deep enough into the forest so that no one can find him where I'm going to bury him. Then he will be safe, for now.

Once I am deep enough in, I come to a stop, leaving Josh to lay limply on the thick snow as the wind howls and tears at us. I begin digging the snow away to form a pit. Once I have dug in a good, body-sized pit, I get into the hole and begin to dig in front of at the snow, but am careful to make sure the snow on top stays above, creating a small cave-like area.

I continue to quickly dig this cave so that Josh will fit in it. I pack more snow onto the 'roof' so that it is fairly sturdy, and quickly get out. I step lightly over the area of where the roof is, and nothing happens. It's safe.

I come to Josh's side. He's moaning quietly. "Hey, man, I need to you to get in here. It'll save your life."

He doesn't say anything, but nods a tiny bit. I drag him carefully down into the pit, making sure not to let too much snow onto his wound, for now. He'll eventually have it touch snow, but I'll wait until that time comes by.

Now that he is safely enclosed in his little cave, I come in after him, crouching by him in the area that is open on top. I take off my pack, unzip it, and grab a canteen, a strip of gauze, and some sturdy jerky.

"Okay, Josh, I need you to hold on longer. Here, I have some food and water for you. Here is a canteen with water, and here is some jerky. You need to make both last as long as possible, you hear me dude? And, I'm going to wrap your knee up in this gauze, alright? It's crucial that you don't pick at it, or take this off. You got it, Joshua?" I ask, getting to work on the knee.

First, I take a small medical pad from the pack and apply it to his knee. He winces and cries out in pain, but I keep going. I press down firmly and attempt to slow the steady blood flow. He squeezes his eyes shut to block out the pain as I tightly wrap the gauze around and around his slender knee.

"Oh, Aryan, it hurts! Stop!" Josh yells, but I keep wrapping it, tighter and tighter until I run out of gauze to wrap. I carefully tuck the rest of the gauze into the wrapping.

"Keep the gauze on. Do not take it off. Drink a little water, and don't sweat. Don't do anything to exert yourself. Try hard not to fall asleep, Josh. That could mean the difference between life and death. Okay? I have to go now, but I'll check on you tonight, alright?" I ask, finishing off everything he needs.

He nods mutely. I've almost lost him.

Who know what will happen?

…

I cover up the uncovering area, sealing Josh tightly into the little cave. I tell him to poke a medium sized hole in the snow above him to breathe from. He does so, and I am just getting ready to leave when I remember I need to mark this spot.

I break a black branch off of a nearby tree, and stick it straight into the ground. That'll be my marker to find him. Or his gravestone marker. Only time will tell.

I hope to God that he stays alive in there.

_**Joshua Allry, District Six**_

The pain.

The pain.

The pain.

That is my world right now. Just pain.

Aryan is talking, but I can't hear him.

Hell, I can barely see him.

The black tunnel around my vision is closing in, and the tiny black dots are crowding my vision.

I can see nothing.

Feel nothing.

Hear nothing.

There's nothing.

The new pain hits me like a tsunami of fire, stabbing at me knee, just concentrating on that one spot. I scream in pain, wishing for death.

I want the pain to end.

I really want to be rid of it.

I want it to end, but it doesn't.

I fear it never will.

My head spins and I feel myself being pulled far away, spiritually. My mind is not here.

I am gone.

_**Kyja Artanyen, District One **_

I stayed with my allies when the gong sounded and we were all off. I went into the middle and grabbed a black backpack. The cold wind bit at my already pale face. My long blonde hair whipped around my face with the wind and I regretted not tying it back earlier. Lexy was attacking the people who came at her, and Aryan was attacking the people that Lexy wasn't. I wasn't blood thirsty: I was putting my intellect to good use, and collecting food and medicinal things behind my allies' backs. They were too busy being all tough and rough. I was taking the smart route.

…

But now I'm sitting in front of a campfire with my allies, Lexy, Aryan, Nic, Lukas (whom Aryan let in) and this loner guy Jason who is following us around, but hasn't really proved himself. He's more of a mute, so we don't know what to think of him yet.

His dirty blond hair sticks up and stands out all over the place, and he stands in the shadows, quietly assessing and watching us.

What a creeper.

I wonder what kind of horrific mutts will be thrust upon us this year.

Will they look normal? Will we be tricked? Will they be freaks of nature, with powerful jaws and claws? Or silent, deadly killers? Like parasites and bugs?

"Right, Kyja?" Lexy says.

I snap my head up, snow and wind tossing my hair about. "What?"

"Jesus, pay attention, Kyja!" Lexy yells, the fire crackling.

"Sorry. What did you say?" I ask.

"That District Five kid. He's such a stalker, didn't he follow you to your room the other night? Braden, right? Ugh, he was so creepy," Lexy says, zipping her jacket collar further up to her chin.

"Oh, yeah," I say, relieved that it wasn't something about the actual Games. I don't want them to know my opinions of the Games. "He was weird. I wonder if he's dead and gone by now."

"Probably is. Guys, we should take bets on who we think is dead!" Lexy yells gleefully, jumping up from her spot.

"Okay, okay, I'm going to bet on the boy from Six. Kaitlin left him bleeding out in the snow!" Nic says, a slight smile in his face.

I see Aryan's jaw tighten, but it immediately relaxes. He speaks up. "I'mma bet on the dude from Three. I killed his sister, and he looked destroyed. I bet you he's dead meat."

"Oh, yeah, Aryan. I bet you're right!" Lexy says. "I bet on that Kaitlin chick. She wouldn't last a damned day without us!"

"Yeah, me too!" everyone choruses after her. I speak quietly, and smile a bit.

"And her partner, Ryan! What the hell?" Lexy yells, riling up the 'audience'. I feel like the quiet girl that everyone ignores. Oh, who am I kidding? That's who I am.

But maybe I can change that- maybe I can be someone new here.

After all, these people don't know who I am.

_**Tyler Relyt, District Ten**_

I don't run into the Cornucopia. I am trying to avoid death, even by cowering. I just sprint into the bleak black forest, away from the chaos and noise.

The forest is silent, save for the howling wind and the crunch of my footsteps on the packed down snow.

The snow bites at my tanned face, and my eyes sting from the cruel wind.

My feet are cold.

My head is cold.

My hands are cold.

I'm all cold.

But I keep jogging, avoiding spindly trees trying to grab me. I jog until I can't anymore. My lungs are pushing air in and out of my faster than they should. My heart is palpitating so quickly, I can barely breathe.

My glasses slid off my nose when I was running, so I can't see anything.

My world is blurry black, dangerous white, and streaking red.

There are no colors here.

**A/N: So, due to popular request, I am here, updating and continuing with this story! Yay!**

**So here're the new characters! A few of them I didn't really show the character of yet, but I wanted to keep them all short and concise. Do you like long or short chapters? Let me know!**

**Who was your favorite? Who did you hate?**

**I have a running tally for my friends on who has votes. So far, we have-**

**Lukas – 1**

**Kaitlin – 1**

**Chase – 1**

**Please tell me who you like! The friends want to get the most votes, so please vote! :D**

**Okay, so, review!**

**Read, too!**

**Goodnight!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

_**Braden Alemonde, District Five**_

I have no chance with her.

She is so amazing, and perfect.

Which is why I have no chance with her: I can't compete with that. I'm just a weakling guy from Five, one that nobody would ever like.

I am thinking of her when the gong sounds. Everyone is off of their plate immediately, and I am dazed for a moment, but I remember that I have to leap off, so I jump off and run away. On my way to the forest, I turn and take one last glance at her.

Kyja.

Her long blonde hair is whipping around her face gracefully, and she is in the Cornucopia.

She locks eyes with me and narrows them.

I have no chance with her at all.

Not one chance.

But I want her to like me so badly.

I'll go in for a chance to have her.

I turn around and run back into the battle grounds, trying to find her. She is fearless and strong, and that's why I love her. But I'm afraid she doesn't feel the same way towards me.

I will change that.

"Kyja!" I yell, running toward her.

She turns around, and I see her mouth something. Is it to me, or to herself?

Was it 'Watch out'? Or 'Get him'?

I'll never know.

I'm dying now.

When she was mouthing something, I felt a searing pain in my neck. I felt the blood gushing out. The extreme, burning pain rushed up to my head, and filled my body. My legs, my arms.

I fell hardly to the ground, the wound in my neck straight into the stinging snow.

I am dying.

I am dying.

And Kyja never liked me.

I feel another searing pain in my stomach now, and look up to see a shortish boy with brown hair and a freckle directly under his right eye.

The pain is so intense now.

I am wishing for death.

I feel the blood pump out from both spots.

My vision is blurring, I can't hear.

I mouth one word before I finally die.

_Please._

_**Shayna Stilden, District Eight**_

My heart is pounding furiously as the seconds tick off. Will he join me? Will he become one of them: a stupid brute? A murderer?

I can't lose my Ryan to that.

_Five…_

_Four…_

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

And we are all off, sprinting away from or to the Cornucopia. I run away as most of the lower district people do, too.

I stop, searching for him. At first I can see nothing over the extreme snow, and my eyes begin to water from the sharp sting from the wind and ice.

But then I see him, with his floppy blond hair and tall, lean frame. He has a huge gray backpack on his back, and a huge grin on his face.

My anxiety is erased when I see his smile and the light in his eyes, despite the obviously dismal situation. He grabs my hand, and together we run off into the dark forest.

…

The sound of despair and chaos is gone behind us now. We are in the peaceful forest, and all is quiet except for the howling of the wind and the crunch of our boots on the snow. Ryan still holds tightly onto my hand, and I smile at him. He smiles back and squeezes my hand.

"I think we're far enough," he says, and brings us to a stop.

"Okay," I say puffing my heavy breaths out.

"Let's see what I got." Ryan sits down, and I follow suit. He unzips the big pack and pulls a few things out.

"A canteen, a dagger," he begins to list, "a one person sleeping bag." He stops, looks up, and winks at me. I smile and blush, and look away. "We've also got some dried fruit, a rope, some weird-ass goggle things, a small loaf of bread, ooh, a tomahawk! And some other useless things. You hungry?"

I shake my head. "But I am pretty cold," I say.

He smiles, and motions for me to come over to him. I sit in his lap and he hugs me tightly.

"I love you, Shay," he says, taking my hair and twirling it around his gloved finger.

"I love you too, Ryan. I'm so glad you're here with me."

"I'm glad I'm here too, with you. I'm so happy that we found each other. And you know that I will die for you, right? And I'll stay right here, by your side, the entire time."

My heart shatters and breaks.

He'll die for me?

What do I do without him?

Would I go on?

Would I live without him? Would I survive?

What do I say?

I say the truth.

"And I will die for you, too, Ryan. I love you so much. And I'll stay by your side. Don't worry," I say, smiling up at him.

He leans down and kisses me on the nose.

I roll my eyes at him. "You call _that_ a kiss?"

I sit up a bit straighter, and strive to kiss his lips.

He smiles, leans down the rest of the way and kisses me right on my lips.

Now that's an accurate kiss.

_**Lukas Senostis, District Nine**_

These Careers are freaking me out. They're so bloodthirsty and creepy.

But at the same time, they aren't so scary as they are cracked up to be. They're almost nice people if you look past their creepiness.

Like Nic, for example. He seems evil and weird, but he's pretty nice. I learned that he doesn't really even like the Games, and that he wants to win for his girlfriend Rachael.

And I don't know Kyja too well, but she seems quiet and intelligent. But I can't assume that: people are almost always different than how they seem.

They talk to me and like me, I think.

Well, everyone, that is, except for Lexy.

She hates my guts, but I get the impression that she hates nearly everyone. So I'm not offended at all.

Now we are still clearing out the other people. I really don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to be here, but I am, so I will make-do with what I have. And if what I have is a strong alliance, then I'll take it.

I am staying towards the backend of the Cornucopia, when I see Aryan dragging some pale brunette guy into the forest. Curious, I follow behind him silently. He is whispering things to the guy in his arms.

Oh my God. It's a romance. A bromance.

I can't imagine Aryan gay, though.

I just can't.

There's got to be a reason for this.

A secret alliance?

Would Aryan be secretly allying with an outer district guy like myself? The thought is heartwarming, but highly unbelievable.

I have to find out what is going on with them.

I follow them into the woods, creeping along on my tiptoes. I feel stupid, but I want to make as little noise as possible.

They keep going like that, and I realize that the brunette guy is bleeding, all over the white snow. That blood trail will be the death of them both if he doesn't cover it up fast.

Aryan stops, and begins to dig a hole in the snow.

A bit later, he lays the brunette guy into the hole, buries it, digs a small hole, sticks a black twig above it to mark the spot.

I deftly duck behind me into the deeper part of the forest as Aryan turns, and returns to camp.

I come up to the 'burial' area, grab the stick out of the ground, and throw it behind me.

If Aryan is a traitor, and I knew about it, and the rest of them found out, I would be dead, Aryan would be dead, and Josh would most surely be dead. I have to keep this a secret.

I am good with secrets.

_**Ryan DeStone, District Four**_

We both smile after the small kiss.

"We should do that more often," I say, a smirk on my face. Shayna smiles and blushes again.

"Yeah. I've never really dated anyone so this is all new to me," she says.

"I'll lead you through it!" I reply, smiling.

Again, she blushes.

"Woman, you blush too much! You've got to start taking the compliments, and demanding more! You need to my assertive, and sweet!" I say, looking at her pretty face. She smiles shyly.

"That's better. Now try with this one: you're the most beautiful girl I've seen in my life," I exclaim.

She smiles widely. "What about the most funny?"

"There you go!"

She smiles again. Her bright white teeth stand out against the dark black fur of her hooded black jacket. She is so pretty.

"You're staring at me, Ryan!" she yells. She playfully hits my shoulder and I laugh.

"I know-"

My sentence is cut off by the strange sounding sob coming from our left. We both jump up, I grab my tomahawk, and give her the dagger.

Without words, we both silently make our way to the sound.

A small kid with dark hair is on his knees, rubbing his eyes, screaming over and over again.

"My eyes!" he yells. "Oh, God! My eyes!"

I hold my hand and motion for Shayna to stay back, and I creep forward.

I shouldn't kill this poor kid. I'm not that kind of person.

I step forward, get on my knees, and touch the boy's shoulder.

His head swivels around to me, and I jump back in shock.

His eyes are-are-

His eyes are completely white. The pupils and irises are completely gone. There's no color in his eyes but white.

"Ah!" he screams, and I back off. "Don't touch me! Who are you?"

"I'm Ryan. District Four," I say softly, trying to keep my voice calm and even.

"Oh, God! Why! A Career!" the boy yells, scrambling backwards.

"Oh, no. I'm not with them," I say, motioning around myself.

Shayna is holding the knife with both hands, and I can tell she is in horror.

"How do I know you're not lying?" he yells, his head turning around in circles as if he can't tell where I am.

"Can't you see? I have one person with me, and she's not a bad guy," I say, trying to calm the boy.

"I can't see _shit_, man!" the boy screams.

Oh, God. He's blind.

"How-how did this happen?" I stutter. I check on Shayna. She's still holding strong.

"I-I lost my glasses, and I couldn't see, and so I stopped running, and sat down, and I didn't have any water or anything, and I was so, so thirsty, so I took some snow into my mouth and ate it, and then my eyes started stinging like fricking crazy, so I put some snow in them, and then I kept rubbing them, and I opened my eyes, and I couldn't see anything. Oh, God, I'm blind! Help me!" he shouts at no one.

I feel so bad for the kid. I come a bit closer. "Hey, what's your name?"

"T-Tyler. Yours?"

"Ryan. Do you need some help, Tyler?" I ask.

"I-I do, but I don't know you and I can't freaking see anything, so I don't know if you're gonna ambush me or something crazy."

"I swear, I'm not a Career, Tyler. I can help you!" I say, offering him a hand.

The gesture is wasted: he can't see it.

Shayna calls me over to her.

"Are you kidding me? You want to let that blind kid with us?" she says in a hushed voice. "I don't want to be mean, not at all, but don't you think he would drag us down?"

She has a point, but I feel bad for the kid. He's defenseless and alone, with no sight. I feel obligated to help him.

"Listen, sweetie, he really needs some help. I mean, this kid is blind and helpless," I reason with her.

I can hear him moaning about his pain.

"Ryan-"

"Please. I'll get rid of him, we just need to help him out a bit," I say, coming back to Tyler.

"Okay, buddy, we're going to help you out now. I need you to trust me."

"I won't!" he yells, scrabbling backwards on the snow from me.

"He doesn't want our help!" Shayna whispers harshly. "Come on, let's _go_!"

Tyler keeps going backwards, trying to escape from me. I shake my head.

"Okay, man. Just know, I offered you help!" I say.

"You would never help me!" he yells, insane from the blindness.

"Let's get out of here," Shayna says, and this time I listen. I grab her dainty hand, and we run back to where my pack is.

"He made so much noise, I bet you every damned Career in a mile's radius heard him!" Shayna says, putting her dagger on her belt.

"I know, but I felt so bad for the poor guy," I say to her.

Her previously hard, stony face is now soft and loving. She smiles. "So caring."

"I know."

_**Tyler Relyt, District Ten**_

I can't see,

I'm blind.

I can't see,

I'm blind.

What do I do? Can I get my vision back?

_Please, God, or whoever it is up there, please give me my vision back! _I pray.

Does God even exist?

Why would people pray to someone who doesn't exist?

I am wondering all of these things when I feel a stabbing pain in my back, and I black out.

Well, I pass out: the world is already black to me.

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter! I am trying to update this every night, but I might not be able to. We'll just see! :D**

**Okay, that ending goes to you Goat Cheese. Because I know you love the suspense. Especially, I'm sure, if it includes you.**

**Please review again, and tell me who your favorites are!**

**Do you guys like the romance? It's based off of a real romance between some of my friends! They're such a cute couple!**

**Alright, I have nothing else to say except for this:**

**HAPPY TURKEY DAY IF YOU'RE A 'MERICUN!' And have a good day tomorrow if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

_**Hannah Helins, District Ten**_

I am running.

Running nowhere, but still.

I am running.

Running for my life.

In a way, I am free, like my horses back home. I can be wild and free here, there are no rules to follow. No one can tell me what to do, who to be like or anything.

I am free.

But I am caged.

I run.

And I run.

I didn't grab anything in the Cornucopia. Too much was going on there, and I felt it was a dangerous place. Imagine that: a potential Bloodbath, dangerous. Who would have thought?

Oh wait. I would have.

A bunch of ignorant imbeciles ran into the middle.

Including him.

Ethan.

My boy, from District Eleven. We had gotten to like each other in training and everything in the Capitol.

And his stupid district partner, Rayne. She had a thing for him, too. But I am pretty sure he likes me.

That is, he would, if he were still alive. He ran into the middle, and now he's dead. I saw his beautiful body, stained with ugly dark red. And that stupid Rayne, her 'perfect' blonde hair soaked in blood.

And the thing that ruined my sadness, and boiled it into anger, was what they were doing, even in death.

Holding hands. They were holding hands when I saw them. I am furious about that.

He didn't have enough respect for me to love only me. He had to have a back-plan.

What if I was his back-up plan, and he was going to go into the arena with her?

Damn.

I was fooled.

Stupid-ass boys.

…

I am still running, running until I can't run anymore. I am freezing cold, my cheeks sting from the burning wind and my eyes burn too. I can barely breathe. My legs feel like rubber, but in a way that's good. This way, I can't feel the pain I should be.

I avoid hitting the thin, black trees as I run.

I keep going until I see something move.

I freeze in my tracks.

I think it's a girl.

She's sobbing and hunched over, on her knees.

What should I do?

Do I want an ally?

I should take her under my wing. She looks like she's in pretty bad shape.

I take a step closer, making sure that my boots aren't too loud on the snow. She continues to heavily sob, tears pouring out of her eyes.

But she's facing the other direction, so I slowly step up to her and pat her shoulder. She jumps up a foot, and her hands come away from her face. She has spun around to face me.

Oh, my God.

Just- oh, God.

Her eyes are pure white, the irises and pupils are completely gone. She is shaking, and when she moves her hands away, I see dried blood all over her pale face. This girl is a wreck.

One of her hands is shaking so much that I think she has a problem, like muscle spasms or something.

But I look closer, and I see that that is certainly not the case.

Her hand is completely frost-bitten. It is totally black, and looks exactly like her gloved hand. Both are black.

I step closer, and the girl jumps again.

Her eyes are searching all around, trying to find the sound point.

Is she blind?

I step a bit closer and crouch down. I reach my hand out and touch her shoulder.

"Hi," I begin softly. "Hi, my name is Hannah. I want to help you. What's your name?"

Her head swivels and moves in all directions, trying to find the source of my voice. I'm positive now that she's blind. Why, though, is the question.

"Who are you?" she says quietly.

"I'm Hannah, from District Ten," I repeat. "Are you okay?"

"No," she gasps. "I can't see anything, I can't feel my damned hand, and my nose hurts like _hell!"_

"Oh, honey." I come a bit closer, my hand still on her back. "I'm so sorry. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

She blinks once. "My nose was in so much pain, so I brought some snow to it to help slow the bleeding and get rid of some of the swelling. And then my eyes started to itch, so I rubbed them. They kept itching, and I was really tired and thirsty, so I ate some snow for water. And then they itched more, and then I blinked, and everything was…Everything was just black."

Oh.

The snow.

It's poisoned.

We can't touch it.

"Okay. So we know the snow is dangerous. But can you tell me your name?" I say softly.

I look around, checking for tributes.

No one.

"My name is- It's Genevieve. Eve for short," she replies, her breath catching in her throat.

"Oh, Eve. Come with me. I'll protect you," I say.

She nods her meekly.

That poor soul.

I lead her away, and we slowly wind our way deeper and deeper into the woods of death, with no hope of ever making it out into the open again.

To be honest, I don't want to get into the open.

I'm free in here.

Peaceful and free.

_**Jason Etras, District Seven**_

I'm a fighter.

I was born to fight.

To draw blood.

Unfortunately, I was born into the wrong place.

Some low-life district where people only worry about living, and surviving.

So, naturally, the Careers just _assume_ that I'm some weakling scumbag with zero chance of living. But I'm different than that. I have trained my whole life for this day. I wasn't prepared for this arena, but I can work with it.

…

I rush into the middle like they do, and find my weapon. My axe. I mold my hands to the sticky grip, and swing out, hitting the boy running next to me. There's a blond girl next to him, and run over to her and swing at her. The axe hits her on her hairline, and the blood pours out immediately, like a faucet.

I smile silently.

Another swing, and I hit the boy in the neck. They both fall, hitting the ground at the same time, hands intertwined.

Romance. It disgusts me.

Their canons boom soon after, and I continue on into the Cornucopia.

There, the Careers, Lexy, Aryan, Nic, and Kyja are taking stock of things. Actually, Aryan is battling it out with some dude, and Kyja is stealing things from the food and medicine area. Smart. I'll have to watch out for her later.

I quietly make my way up to them, wanting so desperately to be a part of them.

Will they accept me?

I am good enough to be a part of them. It's only a matter of being accepted.

Nobody notices me. I make my way up to the Cornucopia, silently creeping.

Still, nobody notices me. I come around the back part of the mouth, and find dead bodies everywhere. The bloodbath will be huge this year. Less people to fight. At least they got rid of the weaklings, though.

The Kyja girl looks up at me. Narrows her eyes.

I smile in a twisted way.

I am ready for this fight.

After all, she is just a girl.

_**Joshua, District Six**_

I wake up, sweaty.

Shit. The sweat'll freeze on me.

Damn it…

I sit up straight, confused for a moment.

Where am I? I remember lots of pain, and white, and black, and red. And Aryan, too. He dragged me through snow, and then nothing comes. I can't remember what happened to me.

But now I know that I am in snow. And that I should be cold, but I'm not. Maybe it's the jacket that's insulating me. Maybe it's the snow, packed and compact around me. I can see my breath, but I am not that cold.

I wonder why.

And then I feel the incredible pain in my knee. It explodes like knives stabbing in. Scalding hot knives, too. My breath is taken away momentarily. I grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut, willing the wave to pass.

It does finally, and I relax. The pain is gone.

For now.

…

I'm hungry, so I rip open the pack of jerky I assume Aryan left me. I also find that the canteen is empty, so I fill it with snow, slosh the snow around until it's close enough to be considered liquid, and drink it down.

Suddenly, my eyes feel itchy. I blink a few times, and my vision gets blurry. I squeeze my eyes shut, shake my head around, then open my eyes again.

Even blurrier.

What the hell is going on?

I'm sure it's dehydration, so I take another sip of the snow-slosh, and my eyes are itchy again. What in the hell?

I blink, and my vision is blurrier yet. I'm actually a little freaked out now. I rub my eyes again, and when I open them, I see nothing.

Blackness.

The world is lost to me.

What is happening?

How did snow do this to me?

What do I do?

Should I try to find Aryan? Surely, I would be dead in a second if I tried to wander into the Career pack. Especially blind.

What in the hell should I do?

Sit, and wait to die?

I can't come up with a better plan, so that's what I do.

Sit, and wait to die.

_**Chase, District Three**_

_I have to go on_, I tell myself. _I can't quit, just because she's gone_, I tell myself. _Keep running_, I tell myself. _There's no stopping, Chase_, I tell myself. _Just don't quit, Chase,_ I tell myself.

I know I will stop if I quit reminding myself of these things.

But I walk on. I have nothing except sadness with me to go on.

My twin, Lindsey, is dead.

I am alone.

My other half is gone.

She's dead.

I am alone here.

No one wants to help me.

No one needs me.

…

My lungs and eyes sting as I continue. But I must keep walking to make sure the tears don't come. Because if I let myself stop now, I will cry myself to death, and that can't happen. I won't let myself fall apart now.

After so little, I can't stop.

I can't stop.

So I just keep walking.

I don't care if my lungs scream for air, and my legs scream for rest, or my eyes scream for blinking.

I just keep walking.

I walk and walk until it's dark here. The darkness wraps around me like a cozy, warm blanket. It makes me feel less alone, and I need that right now.

I only stop when I hear the final canons boom, signaling the fallen. The nation's anthem plays.

I sit down and stop walking, my body finally happy with me.

"Welcome, tributes, to your first night in this arena! Congratulations for making it thus far into the Games!" the male announces. I look up to grid-like sky above me. It has finally stopped snowing, so I am able to look up at a clear sky.

"Here we have our fallen: Lindsey Bondrush, of District Three," he begins.

My heart aches at seeing her smiling face in the night sky and hearing her name spoken by a man I don't know.

"Eliza Goodwyn of District Five, Jane Distrap of District Six, James Acklly of District Eight, Amarie Jonte of District Nine, Alexandria Steves of District Eleven, Jonathon Allman of District Eleven, Hope Anstrom of District Twelve, and Hamaon Strew of District Twelve. Have a good night, tributes, and may the odds be _ever_ in you favors!"

The sky stays lit up for a moment, then darkens, and the grid lines disappear, and it looks like a normal sky again. Almost on cue, the snow begins to fall in huge chunks.

I lay on my back, my arms and hands tucked under my head, and look up at the sky.

I don't think I have to worry about hunters, this deep into the woods, and this early into the Games.

I stick my tongue out, and catch the drifting snowflakes on my tongue, like Lindsey and I used to when we were little.

Lindsey.

She's gone now.

And I'm alone.

_**Lexy, District Two**_

"Damn," I exclaim. "I guess both of those Four deserters are okay. I have to say, I'm pretty surprised they're alive."

The group nods and laughs. Nic speaks up, "I have to say, I expected the Joshua guy would be dead."

We all laugh again and smirk.

Then, the quiet girl, Kyja, talks. "I guess we did pretty good, right?"

"Pretty good? Hell yeah, pretty good! We had nine bloodbaths! That's amazing!" I yell, a huge grin on my face. They all smile too.

I'm their leader. They will follow me. A bunch of stupid people, following a dangerous woman. Quite a good mix.

I begin to cheer, and I stand up from my sitting position, running around the bonfire. I scream in joy, so happy to finally be here, to claim my victory. I cheer and yell happily, and they join in, hollering and screaming in glee.

"We'll get you!" I scream. "We'll get all of you!"

A shadow steps away from the bigger shadow, and we all jump up.

The creepy Jason guy, with the dirty blond hair that sticks up.

"Well, let's go get them."

**A/N: There's your update guys! I added two new characters into the mix, so tell me your favorites! I'm still keeping that tally! They want to know who wins 'Fan Favorite' almost more than they want to know who actually wins, haha. :D**

**Oh, so what do you think is up with the snow? What's going to happen to the tributes? Review for a quicker update! Thanks, guys!**

**Umm… Not much to say here. I ate way too much the other day, and I'm still feeling bloated.**

**Bet you all were DYING to know that lovely piece of information. Yeah…not so much.**

**Anyway, I have the new chapter up, and you all need to review! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

_**Nic, District One**_

"Well, let's go get them," some blond guy says. He's stepped out of the shadows, and I see that his hair is spiked up and he has a black band under it, going around his forehead.

"Excuse me, but who do you think you are?" Lexy jumps up immediately and is on this boy with a sword in her hand.

She pounces onto him, and in seconds has this guy pinned to the ground, and smirk on her tanned face.

"Are you deaf? I asked, who the hell do you think you are!" she barks at him.

He doesn't reply, but kicks his legs up, and slightly throws Lexy off of him. His small eyes narrow a bit and I recognize that glint in his eyes: fight. He's ready for a fight.

They are both on the ground now, but not on top of each other. She springs to her feet, and at the same time, Jason lunges out at her feet, sweeping her to the ground.

I know we should help Lexy, but the whole group is entranced, and we watch the fight play out, silently.

I know she is getting frustrated, I can tell by the way she grunts when he punches him in the nose. Blood gushes out, but it freezes in place before it can flow away. Makes my nose hurt, just thinking about it.

This guy's a pretty good fighter, I have to admit. If he can frustrate Lexy, he's got some skill.

They keep going at it, punching and hitting each other quickly in rapid fire. It's so bizarre to watch, them turning and twisting around in the snow. Arms and limbs fly out as the roll and punch.

I start to see blood on the snow, and I don't know who's it is, but I think it's important to help Lexy if it's hers. It might just be from the nosebleed, but it could also be more serious than that.

I jump up and run to fight. The blond guy is on top of Lexy now, so I am able to pull him off of her. He holds tightly to her collar, and I can tell she's suffocating, so I chop my arm down onto his, and he immediately lets go of it.

I am holding this guy back, and Lexy is down on the ground, choking and gasping for breath, holding her throat. He growls and tugs at my arms, but I just hold him back tighter.

"Aryan, hand me a knife," I yell. He tosses a pocket knife at me, and I catch it with my free hand.

I never wanted to be like this, but this ass thought he could barge into our camp and injure one of us.

I flip the sharpest blade out and hold the blade to his neck, pressing tightly to let him know that I am not kidding about this.

"You heard her!" I yell. "Who in the hell are you?"

"Jason," he says calmly. "District Seven."

I laugh. District Seven? This lamo thinks he can come in here and try to be part of us?

"Really,man? You think you can come in here and be with us? Take a look around. You don't belong here," I say with a laugh.

"I thought I proved myself by beating up your little leader here. Just ask her. I'm a damn good fighter, isn't that right sweetheart?" this Jason guys says as he spits a bloody tooth out.

She narrows her eyes at. "Don't you _dare_ call me that, ever again!"

"I asked you a question. Care to answer?" Jason says, deathly calm. I pull him back more, my arms holding his own behind myself. He laughs insanely and I shudder a bit, causing him to chuckle more.

"He's okay," Lexy says quietly, her ego slightly showing, even in her defeated state.

"Speak up," Jason demands. I bring the blade closer, nearly tearing into his flesh.

"Lay off her," I whisper.

"Oh, does the 'fearless' leader need a protector?" Jason says.

And then I notice it.

The blood.

Coming from Lexy's side.

I slide the blade across Jason's neck, and he immediately brings his hands up to the knife in my shaking hand.

He hits me quickly, and in reaction, I jump away, wincing at the slight pain in my arms. The knife is on the ground. I need to get it, and kill this guy.

I duck down quickly. The knife is in reach. I lunge forward, and grab it just in time.

Our allies see where this is going, so they join in, favored weapon in hand. Aryan with his spear, Kyja with her knife, and Lukas with a sword. I'm positive that he won't be able to use the sword properly, and am very confused as to why he was let into our alliance. Aryan seems to be a bit screwed up.

We gather in a semi-circle around Jason, quickly making our way to him. His neck is bleeding pretty badly, but I feel no resent. He injured my friend. He needs to pay for it.

He sits on the ground, his hands working quickly to fix up his wound. He puts some snow to it, then stops. His eyes quickly dart from side to side. He squints, then rubs his eyes again. He looks confused as he looks around.

We have momentarily forgotten what is going on as Jason sits there, rubbing his eyes and shoving snow into his face.

We look in horror at his eyes as the white part of them literally eats away the color. The pupils and irises are gone from both of his eyes. His eyes are only white now.

He looks around confused.

"What the hell just happened?" Aryan says.

Jason's head darts around, his eyes scrambling to pinpoint the sound. Is he blind? What did happen? Are we seeing things?

"It must have been those mushrooms we had earlier," I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

It's wasted. Nobody laughs or acknowledges my joke. Whatever.

"That was bizarre," Kyja says. "Can he not see us now?" Jason freaks out, his head moving around crazily.

I don't think he can see us.

But why?

"Guys," Lexy gasps. We all turn around, facing Lexy. She brings her hands away from her side, and we see the red blood in the firelight.

"Oh, shit," I say. I forgot about her. She's been bleeding out this whole time.

"What do we do?" Aryan says.

"Go finish him, dammit!" Lexy whisper-yells.

Aryan turns back to where Jason is, spear in hand. I hear the _whoosh_ of him stabbing his spear down, but there is no cannon. Then I hear Aryan swear.

Kyja is tending to Lexy's wounds with some crappy gauze pads and things, but Lukas and I run to join Aryan.

"What is it?" I say.

"Shit," Aryan mumbles. "I don't freaking get it!"

"What is it, man?" I yell.

"I tried to stab this guy, but nothing happened. It just bounced off of him. It's like he has a shield," Aryan says in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding," Lukas says. He steps closer to a trembling Jason, and tries to jab his sword into the guy's abdomen. Nothing happens. The sword doesn't sink into him. It just stays there.

Aryan gets closer to him, and yanks his shirt up. Jason's stomach is fine. Not a single scratch or mark. What in the hell is going on?

"I've got it! I know!" Aryan yells out.

"What, what is it?" we yell.

"The snow!" Aryan yells like a madman. "Don't you see? It's in the snow!"

"No, I don't see," Lukas replies blandly.

"It made him blind!" Aryan screams. "But it also gave him this shield!"

Oh, my God.

He is brilliant.

_**Aryan, District Two**_

The snow! I can't believe I didn't notice that when he went blind. Or when I stabbed him.

It's all in the snow.

And then I realize another thing: if we all eat the snow, we will be blind, sure, but we will be nearly immortal. No one will be able to kill us.

"You guys!" I yell, amazed with my discovery. "Eat the snow!"

"Are you freaking crazy?" Lukas says. "That made him blind!"

"But it made him immortal. He cannot be injured any longer!" I scream.

I run over to Kyja and Lexy. Lexy is deathly pale, and Kyja is looking frustrated and tired.

"She's going to bleed out," Kyja says. I almost see a tear slip down her pale face, but she wipes it away before it can freeze or even be noticed.

"The snow. Eat the snow!" I say to Kyja.

"What? Why? Didn't it make him blind, too?" Kyja says in confusion.

"Well, yeah, but it gives you immortality!" I say.

"Really?" Kyjas says, not believing me.

"Just let me eat the goddamned snow!" Lexy yells in pain. She gingerly brings some snow up to her mouth, and crunches on it quickly.

"This better stop the bleeding, or you're in some trouble, Aryan!" Lexy barks, as I see her eyes turn white. "Shit, it itches!"

Her eyes are completely white now. "I'm gonna have to get used to this," Lexy says, twisting her head around nonchalantly, even though she is blind now.

The bloody injury on her side is gone.

She touches her side with her gloved hand, feeling for a gaping injury.

"It's gone! It's gone, Aryan!" Lexy yells, jumping up to hug me. I nod awkwardly.

"You're welcome," I say, then push her off of me. She stumbles back a bit.

I turn back to Lukas and Nic, and see that both of them are white-eyed and grinning, fighting each other with swords and weapons, not worrying about their blindness, or the possibility of getting injured, since there is none.

Kyja looks up at me.

"You are brilliant, Aryan. Thanks for saving her," Kyja says. "But I'd prefer not to go blind. I don't care about immortality."

I motion for her to come closer. I whisper in her ear, "I don't either. But don't tell the blind people that we aren't blind, okay?"

She nods and grins evilly.

"I say you and me go out and hunt, bring down the uh, the tribute population, eh?" I say.

"Yeah!" she exclaims. "But we have to be quiet about it."

"Obviously," I reply. "But let's go now."

"What weapon do you want?" she asks.

"I've got mine," I say. I turn and see she has grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"Okay, let's be off!" Kyja says happily.

As we run off, I turn back and see the allies of mine fast asleep around the fire.

Wow.

_**Ryan, District Four**_

None of the Careers are dead.

No surprise there.

And really none of the other deaths surprise me.

Except maybe the fact that the Chase guy is still alive. I would have thought he'd bite the dust. I guess he's got more will than I expected.

I hold Shayna in my arms as the sky lights up, and we stay together through all of the deaths. She cries at seeing her district partner's death. They had been childhood friends.

I kiss her forehead and comfort her as the names go by. My partner is still alive. Good for her. She's pretty strong.

We are just settling down for sleep when I hear the crackling of sticks and the crunch of weight on snow. It's a person, out here.

It might be the poor Tyler kid, but I don't think it is. These feet don't sound clumsy and blind. They sound stealthy and like they know what they're doing.

I snap up, leaving Shayna in the sleeping bag. I am on my feet with my tomahawk in hand.

The sound gets closer and louder, and I am ready to attack.

And I am surprised when I see no one, but feel a searing, ripping pain in my back. My hand immediately flies to the spot of pain and I find an arrow in my back.

It hurts so much, but I have to find where it came from to protect Shayna.

I stumble around in the circle, but I can't see anything with the darkness and the black trees everywhere.

I fall to the ground as I feel another shooting pain, this time in my stomach.

Shayna gets up out of the sleeping bag and scrambles on the sow over to me. I curl up into the fetal position, trying to find a position that alleviates the pain at least a little, but this just makes it worse, so I just lay on my side.

I can feel the blood pump out from both wounds.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

I am looking into Shayna's beautiful blue eyes when she jumps up, and falls again, a peaceful smile on her face.

But I can see the pain in her eyes.

Why?

Why is she in pain?

The blood is warm against the heat insulating jacket.

That's all I can think about.

Her body is on top of mine when it convulses again.

Another arrow.

The attack was suddenly here, and suddenly gone.

It ended as soon as it began.

"Ryan," Shayna gasps.

"Yes?" I reply.

"Can you move me?" she asks.

I use the little energy I have left in me to move her tiny body off of mine.

We are lying side by side, and I know we are both dying.

C'est la mort.

Together in death.

She weakly grabs onto my hand.

We will be together.

Together in death.

_**Shayna, District Eight**_

My body hurts intensely. I can feel the warm blood from the arrows in my jacket.

I am in pain.

Ryan is in pain.

We are in pain, together.

And we will be in death, together.

We hold hands and cry our tears together, too.

We bleed together.

We stay together.

And we die together.

_**Kyja, District One**_

I hear two cannons in the distance as I sprint away from the two lovers in the woods.

I smile to myself.

Here comes the real me.

**A/N: Another one! Yay! I present you all with another chapter!**

**I'll be honest: this one made me cry. With 'Shayna' and 'Ryan'. I cried while writing that, because I'm such an emotional person.**

**Umm… Yeah. I have an amazing idea that will play out soon.**

**Vote for your favorite in a review so that they don't die! The people with the least amounts of likes are probably all going to die in the next chapter, so save their lives! Vote for your favorite person in a review!**

**Thanks, all of you reviewers, too! I have four chapters (now five) and almost thirty five reviews! That's awesome, you guys!**

**Thank you all!**

**Hope you had a good break, I know I did!**

**:D**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

_**Hannah, District Ten**_

We keep wandering into the dark, deadly forest. I hold her small hand in mine and lead the way for her. The pictures of the fallen flash above us as we slowly trudge through the snow. I look up. Surprisingly, my district partner, Tyler, is not dead.

None of the other deaths surprise me, so I help Eve continue through with. When the sky darkens again, I feel the wind and snow pick up again.

I shiver and pull my jacket up higher around my neck. I see Eve shivering and don't know what to do.

But when I take a closer look under the pale moonlight, I see her previously blackened hand is fine, not even the slightest bit pink. I look up to her searching eyes, and notice that her nose that looked broken earlier is fine, and returned to its earlier state, of being intact.

What the hell? Did she heal herself?

"Eve," I say in shock.

Her head turns in my direction, and her eyes dart around, trying to adjust to the blindness and find the sound's origin.

"Yeah?" she whispers, eyes wide and fearful, even in their lacking state.

"Your hand. It's better. And so is your nose!" I say in awe. "Did you feel that?"

"Well, I ate the snow, and I felt really good. Like I could do anything, like I was super strong," Eve replies.

"Huh," I say in thought. "Why do you think you're all healed up?"

"Maybe it's in the snow?" she muses. "I felt amazing after I ate it, minus the being blind part, and all."

The snow! I'm sure it's in the snow!

"Eve! It's the snow! You're right! It blinds you, but it heals you! Maybe it does other things, too! Do you mind if I experiment a little on you?" I say quickly.

"Uh, I guess not. What do you plan on doing, exactly?" she asks. I smile, but it's wasted, because, after all, she's blind.

"I want to see what else the snow can do. I wonder if it makes you… I wonder if it makes you immortal, or injury-proof," I say, thinking out loud.

"Sure, because blinding snow has magical immortality powers, Hannah. Let's be real, here," she says, rolling her dead eyes. "Besides, where would you get that idea from?"

"Well, the injury that could have cost you your life healed itself after you ate the snow. So that leads me to believe that you may have been granted 'magical immortality powers'," I reply, justifying my thoughts.

She contemplates this as we walk. She turns to me and we stop. "I think you're right. Let's test it."

I smile.

"Okay. What should we do? How do we injure you?" I ask. She quirks her lips up to think about it.

"Umm… I haven't had any experience with the trees yet, so let's try something with them. I'll be willing to bet they've got some poison or parasite in them." Eve laughs. "But first we have to try it on you. Would you be willing to? In the name of science?"

I think about this one. What if she is right, and there's some life-threatening toxin or bug in the bark? Well, I guess that in that case, I would eat some snow, and be rid of it, hopefully.

"Fine," I say with a sigh. I reach up and grab a thin black branch and break it off of the tree carefully.

"Pull your sleeve up, and cut yourself with the tip of the branch," Eve says, looking in the wrong direction. Her hand is resting on the tree nearest her, and I can see tiredness in her face.

I follow her directions. I pull the sleeve up, rest the tip of the stick right below the inside of my elbow, push hard, and drag down, all the way down to my thin wrist.

I wait a moment, then feel the terrible stinging race up and down my arm. I feel the cold nip fiercely at my bare skin, but I remind myself of why we're doing this. I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my bottom lip.

It feels like there are tiny bugs inside my skin, trying to fight their way to the surface. For all I know, there might be.

I hold my arm over to the spot with the break in the trees overhead, and look at my arm in the moonlight.

I gasp when I see it.

My arm is bright red, part of it is glistening with blood, and the part that I sliced is inflamed and swollen. I still feel the bugs under my skin, and scream when I see something crawl out of the single laceration on my skin.

A bug.

A bug just crawled out from my skin.

"Shit!" I scream, slapping at my arm, and screaming again as a searing pain runs up my arm from the slap. "Eve, what do I do?"

"Well," she starts calmly, not aware of what is going on here. "If it's life threatening, then you should eat the snow. If it's not, don't waste the blindness on it. And if you can't tell, just do the snow. Unless you really don't want to be blind. Because, you know, being blind sucks, 'cause you can't see and all."

"What the hell?" I yell. "Things are crawling out of my arm, Eve! What do I do?"

She stops for a moment, stroking her chin, and her peacefulness frustrates me. "Since parasites are crawling out of your arm, I would go with Option A- eat the snow."

I hesitate, looking down at the arm, but I notice more bugs are crawling, and they are multiplying, so I quickly drop to my knees, and scoop the snow into my mouth with my exposed hand which is on its way to being as black as Eve's was.

Not anymore, I think to myself.

I eat the snow, and force myself to calm down as the cones and rods in my eyes slowly die.

And then again I calm down as my body falls into a sleep.

I have passed out.

_**Tyler, District Ten**_

I wake up to being slapped and hit. I am tied to a tree, I can feel it, the way my arms are draped behind me and I can feel the ropes dig into my jacket, down to my skin.

I try to open my eyes, but I can't. It's so black, that I wonder if it's late at night and I can't see anything.

But now I remember.

I'm blind.

So I have no idea that I'm going to be slapped when I am.

A hand comes across my face, and my head lazily lolls to the side. I'm in a daze, and I can't remember where I am. Why I'm blind. Why anything that is happening is happening.

"What the hell?" I yell after the third slap. I'm angry at this point, so angry that I forget about the fact that my explosion could possibly cost me my

"You needed to wake up," a girl's voice says. "And I didn't want to waste my precious water on your pathetic ass."

"Why would you put water on my ass?" I kid.

"Ha ha," she says drily. "You know what I mean, Ten."

"Sweet! I always knew I was attractive, but a girl never acknowledged it! I'm a ten now!" I yell, just trying to piss this chick off.

I wince as I feel another slap on my face. "You need to shut the _hell_ up! You're gonna get us both killed!" she hisses at me.

I try to put my hands up in mock surrender, but find I can't with the ropes binding me. "Whoa, sweetheart, calm down. Who's going to kill us, anyway?"

"Don't call me that, ever again. Seriously."

"Okay, then. Well, since you seem to know everything about me, tell me, what is your name and district?" I question her.

"Why do you care?" she asks.

"I thought we could play a little game of 'getting to know you', you know, captor to captive," I say nonchalantly.

"Very clever," she responds, anger bubbling in her tone. "Fine. It's Kaitlin, District Four. What's your name?"

"Ah, so you don't know my name?" I ask. "It's Tyler. See, that round wasn't too hard. Now another question: why am I tied up to a tree, with a pissed off chick stomping around me? I mean, this would probably be in any other guy's dream, but I'm just sorta weirded out right now. Would you mind explaining it to me?"

She sighs loudly. Then leans in closer to me, so close that I can feel her breaths on my cheek. Maybe this would have been cool if she wasn't some assassin girl that could chop my head off in a second.

"I captured you because I wanted to prove to my District that even though I'm not a Career, that I'm still a strong fighter with a will to do anything to survive. Got it?" she whispers right into my ear.

I nod in shock. So she's not a Career? I guess that is pretty cool, then.

"Does that mean that you have to kill me to prove a damned point? I have to say, I wished that I wouldn't have such a lame death. Damn," I say, sighing loudly.

"I guess you're right," she admits.

"Didn't your momma ever tell you that it's rude to kill the blind kid?" I say, trying to tell my last joke before my death.

"Oh, Tyler. I'm sorry I have to do this."

There is a silence left hanging in the air, but nothing happens.

"Hey, I thought you were going to kill me now? Remember, it was all dramatic and such? And I made my final joke and was going to die? What happened to that? I guess, I mean I'm glad you didn't kill me, but I just thought that-" I stop myself there. "Yeah, so what happened?"

"You- you-you…" she stutters.

"I-I-I…" I repeat.

"It bounced off you. The axe…It bounced off," she says in shock.

"Are there any mushrooms around? Because it sounds like you ate some. You are telling me you saw the axe bounce off of me? As in it didn't tear through my flesh and kill me? Sweet!" I exclaim. "I'm like frickin' indestructible! Awesome!"

"What the hell?" she says, still surprised. I hear a whoosh of air, and I know that she is swinging the axe again, but I feel nothing. "How is this happening?" she asks again, almost in awe.

"I have no clue, but I can't be killed! Woohoo!" I shout.

"Tyler, you said earlier that you are blind? Did that happen here?" she says, stopping with her swearing and swinging.

"Oh, yeah. I ate some snow, and then I couldn't see anything," I say, remembering the itching.

"Huh. You ate the snow, and now you are indestructible? I think there's something linking them together."

"Like the snow?" I ask, amazed that some stupid snow could do so much.

"I, I think that that's a possibility. I wonder if other people have been affected by this snow," she says.

"Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering. Do you think it would be worth it if I ate some?" Kaitlin asks.

"I would go with a no on that, sorry. Being blind sucks. Like a lot. If I could get rid of both the blindness and the shield, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"Okay. So avoid the snow, at all costs?" she asks.

"Yeah, you really don't need the shield this deep into the forest," I say to her.

"Well, I heard two cannons go off last night. And I'm sure they weren't Career cannons," she replies. I nod, taking in the information.

"Well, since I can't be killed, would you mind untying me from this tree?" I say, my arms stinging from the rope burn.

"Sure," she says, and moves to untie me.

I guess that since one sense is lost to me, the others are heightened, so when she drops her axe to untie me, I can hear the noise.

She finishes, and moves the cut ropes away from me. I feel the ropes fall down, and my arms are relieved from the tightness and pressure from before.

I stand up with the help of the tree, and hear Kaitlin bend down to retrieve her axe.

"Well, this is awkward," I say. "Are you going to hold me here for longer, or will you let me go?"

"I'll let you go, since you can't be killed. But before you go, do you want some berries?" she asks.

I guess I am hungry. "Sure," I say, holding my hand out for her to put them in.

She bends down, dropping the axe again, and grabs something out of her backpack.

She leaves the axe down there, stands up again, and offers me some berries. I take them, and just as I am about to bring them to my lips I smell the sickly sweet scent of poisonous berries. I learned how to identify these things in training in the Capitol.

She is trying to poison me.

Well, I'll try to poison her too.

I duck down quickly and reach out for the axe that she left laying there. The berries are still in my hand. I take the blade of the axe and smear it in the berry sauce that my hand has made.

This axe is absolutely deadly now.

I can hear her breathing from where I stand.

She knows I know.

It's a battle now.

Except the odds are tipped in my favor.

_**Kaitlin, District Four**_

I can't believe that it's come down to this.

Me, weaponless, versus a blind kid with my axe and poison berry-sauce smothered all over it.

Damn.

I guess I have one last resort.

I could eat the snow, and then it would be like a war between two indestructible people. And that would be boring quickly to the viewers.

I also have one very, very last plan.

I could tiptoe away from him, and then maybe, maybe, he wouldn't hear me and I could make a run for it. I'm sure running while blind is pretty hazardous, so that wouldn't be pretty.

So I could do that. But I would have to sneak away pretty silently for him not to hear me.

And I would have to desert my backpack. That would be awful, but in order to live, I would do it.

He narrows his eyes, trying to find me by sound.

If I stay silent, he won't find me.

I take the tiniest step backwards.

His head flicks to the side, but he doesn't find me.

I take one more backward, and then another. He advances the slightest bit, sensing my movement. But he can't find exactly where I am.

The playful teasing mood from before is gone, now replaced with a sense of desperation. I have to escape. My life depends on it.

I can just barely reach my backpack from where I am now. I move down the tiniest bit, but his head moves down, following me exactly. I slowly stand back up, so the air didn't rush at him.

He stays still, adjusting to the lack of sound.

So the backpack is out of question.

But my life isn't.

I step back slowly, so slowly, that I couldn't even tell if I had even moved at all. But he didn't hear it or sense it. So I try it again. Nothing. He doesn't react.

I feel behind my back, and touch a tree.

I smile: perfect.

If I can make it around this tree, then I'll be safe. He'll run straight into and will be very disoriented. That's just what I need.

I slowly creep around the tree, making sure to make the noise amount minimal.

I make it around the tree. I turn my head to look behind me. A fairly clear path awaits me. He still hasn't moved, but just when I work up the courage to start sprinting, he chucks the axe at me.

I feel the pain in my entire body, but the central point is my lower back. I cry out in pain as I feel the axe eat through the flesh, and then I remember the poison berries he had. What did he do with those? Did he put those on the axe?

The pain is searing now, tearing up and down my back. I cry out in pain, feeling like one of those wolves that we learned about in school.

He has no weapon now, and he can't do anything now that the damned axe is lodged firmly into my back.

Shit.

It hurts so much, my back. The pain radiates from a single spot, and I can barely force myself to keep going, but I do. I drag myself, stomach on the snow, deeper into the forest, through the darkness, away from the blind murderer.

The trees around me sway their limbs around the snow falling. I'm cold and in pain. I'm thirsty too, but I can't drink the snow.

Tyler has my food and water.

I'm thirsty and afraid of being hurt further.

Should I drink the snow?

It saved Tyler from being hurt further.

But is being blinded worth living?

I guess they can fix my eyes in the Capitol.

I gingerly scoop the mysterious snow into my mouth, and let it do its job.

Within moments, I am blind, but my back's pain is gone.

So, it has healing powers, too.

Good to know.

And just when I feel the pain gone, and the darkness on, I feel and see nothing.

I am passed out.

_**Aryan, District Two **_

When Kyja and I leave the camp, I run straight out to where Josh should be in the forest. I run quickly in, not stopping. I take the turns I remember from earlier. I remember the one crooked tree to the right of Josh's spot, but notice that the twig marking the spot is gone.

Someone's been here.

"Josh!" I yell. I run up to where he should be. "Josh!"

I frantically tear at the snow encasing him. I finally burst through to him.

He's alive!

He's alive!

I see that he's sleeping. I tap him on his shoulder. "Josh?"

His head snaps up, his dark hair following in fluid movements. His eyes open.

Oh no.

Not him, too.

He scoots back in fear. "Who is it? Leave me alone!"

"Josh, chill, it's me, Aryan."

"Oh, okay, man. Sorry. I just…I can't see anything. I ate-"

I stop him. "The snow? Yeah, so I've heard of this snow. It also heals you," I add.

"I know!" he exclaims. "My leg is all better!"

"And it makes you immortal," I say flatly.

How can he be excited about this? It's not a good thing, at all. He's blind, for Christ's sake.

"Josh, you can't be happy about this, man. Really," I say.

"I can't tell you how much better I feel, though, Ar," he replies.

I sigh, rubbing my forehead. "Josh, you're blind!" I yell. "Do you not see the downside of this?"

He furrows his brow, confused with my outbreak. I almost see a look of fear in his eyes, like he thinks I would hurt him, almost.

But I can't hurt him.

He is immortal.

"Josh, there's nothing good from this," I tell him. "What if they can't fix your eyes in the Capitol, if you win? Then you won't be grinning like a fool!"

"Lay off, dude!" Josh yells. "It's not like I ate the snow on purpose!"

He's right. Why does this make me so angry?

"You're right, man. I'm sorry," I reply.

Two cannons boom overhead.

"Who do you think that was?" he asks.

"I have no clue, but I don't care. Okay, man. Since you're not hurt anymore, I'm going to bring you back to the camp. The rest of them are blind too. They won't know you're there if you stay quiet-"

He interrupts me. "Why would I have to be quiet? It's not like they would be able to kill me!"

"Sure, but they would be able to kill me. Logistics," I say.

"Oh, yeah. Alright," he says.

"You ready to go?" I ask. He nods, and I get up out of the hole, with Josh following clumsily behind me. "We're going to have to quiet now, because they'll hear you clomping around out here, you understand me?" He nods again, and I take his arm and lead him around the trees, through the snowy land to the warm fire of the Cornucopia. I make sure that he steps over the sleeping bodies of the blind people.

I am just setting up a tent for us, when I hear Kyja's voice.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" she asks. "Do I see Aryan with a lower-district weakling? Well, this is _quite_ the turnout! You do know, though, that I'll have to get rid of both him, and you, right?" she says.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

"You can't get rid of him, you know? Because he ate the snow, too. So I guess it comes down to the two of us."

"Aw, you're gonna die for your little bromance here? How sweet! Not!" Kyja yells.

She loads her bow with a black arrow, and aims it at my forehead. I slowly bend down and grab the spear that is so conveniently at my feet. I grip it tightly, preparing for the fight.

"Are you ready?" Kyja taunts. "You want to come get me?"

I say nothing and charge toward her, spear still in hand.

I refuse to throw it away. I keep it my hand the whole time.

Once I get close enough to her, I thrust it forward, trying to jab her in the stomach, but she quickly sidesteps it.

She lets the arrow go, so close to me that I'm actually fearing for my life right now.

And it hits me.

Straight in my abdomen. I gasp in pain and shock, but I keep charging at her. She tries to back away, but her foot catches on large snow bump, and we both tumble backwards.

I land on top of her, the arrow in my stomach slightly poking into hers.

My spear is still in my hand. I put all of my weight on my left hand, and lift the right hand with the spear high above her head, ready to snap it down and ruin her life.

But before I can do it, she squeals and begins to cry. I look down at her with confusion.

"Please! Don't kill me! I'm sorry!" she whines, tears pouring from her eyes.

They're fake tears.

No one can have a legitimate feeling and attitude that quickly.

I shake my head, and bring the spear down to her neck. I feel it tear through the neck tissues, and feel the blood spray from her throat, onto my face.

My gut hurts so much. I roll off of her, and lay, writhing in the snow in pain. What do I do? Josh obviously can't tend to my wounds. Kyja is probably already dead, or close to death.

I groan in pain. I touch my chest.

Soaked through the jacket, it's that deep. This is really bad.

I need the snow, or I'm going to die.

I quickly shove the freezing snow into my cold, dry mouth and wait for my wound to heal itself.

When it finally does, and my world is black, I feel myself pass out.

_**Kyja, District One**_

The pain starts in my neck, and quickly spreads through my body like a wildfire. I try to scream in pain, but I end up coughing up blood and choking on it.

Why am I still alive? I should be dead.

The spear literally went through my neck.

And then I remember the snow.

I can live, and I desperately want to.

So I slowly turn on my back, and barely scoop some snow into my bloody mouth, and wish for soon healing.

Just when my eyes finally go black, and my neck isn't gushing blood, I pass out.

_**Chase, District Three**_

My tears are all gone. I have cried every single tear in my body, and I'm dried out.

My breaths are still shuddery, and to even think about her makes me want to implode, or shrivel up and die.

I want to go home. I want to leave this hell, and mourn with my family, instead of all by myself in the lonely woods. But I can't, even if I die, I will not ever see my family again. I might not even see Lindsey again.

I sit up straight, and pull my knees up to my chest, heaving deep breaths.

I can't believe that I have made it this far. I can't believe that I'm here.

My throat is dry. I need some water.

I grab a handful of snow, and bring it up to my dry, cracked lips.

My face is itchy the second the snow touches my skin. I scratch at my face, and put more snow into my mouth. I don't care what is going on with the itchiness, I just know that I'm thirsty, so I keep sucking on the snow, turning it to water in my mouth.

I blink, and the world goes blurry around me.

What?

I blink again in confusion.

Even blurrier.

What is happening?

I blink one last time, and the world is black around me.

Am I blind, now?

What happened?

I barely have time to recognize what has happened when I pass out cold.

_**In the Capitol- A family**_

We gather around the television to see the highlights that we missed from last night.

The camera shows all of the tributes that are alive passing out after having eaten the snow. All of the tributes who have already eaten it pass out too.

"Not Aryan!" my older sister whines. "He is too cute to be blind!"

"How does that affect his attractiveness?" I ask.

"Shut up, Shadow."

I do.

They all fall, one by one.

Even the ones that are walking, or hiking or something. They just fall to the ground, as if they are dead.

I try to figure it out as my family discusses favorites.

"That Tyler guy is hilarious!" my brother says.

"You've gotta admit," my mother says, "Kaitlin is very determined."

I still have no clue as to why they have all fallen when the Games come back on and everyone grows quiet.

**A/N:**__**There we go! Another chapter, three days in a row! Yay!**

**Alright! This is the last part of the first test! (Like in my summary of this story!) Next chapter I reveal a fricken huge twist! And I'm dying to tell someone, but I refuse to tell anyone. Haha. It'll all play out soon. Let me just tell you, it'll be so awesome!**

**Shout-out to ****Dancingchocolatesmudge ****for figuring out my evil plan, sort of! Muhahaha!**

**Alright, that's all I've got to say…**

**Tell me who your favorite character is! Tell me who you don't like! Please, just review! Leave your thoughts on the chapter!**

**Oh, and I just have to tell you- guys, this story has six chapters only, and is 52 pages on Microsoft word. That's A LOT! Thank you all for supporting me and reading this! Makes me so happy and smiley to read your reviews!**

**I love all of you! **

**Goodnight! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

_**Julius Flickerman, on television**_

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! And thank you all so much for tuning into my channel for _your_ updates on this year's annual Hunger Games!" Julius says. The live audience before him goes wild, cheering and whistling. He flashes a perfect white smile at them, and the applause grows.

"Now, there is a huge twist this year, though we are, unfortunately, not in Quell year." The audience boos and groans. "I know, I know. But, since it is a ten's year, we are going to be seeing some very new and exciting technological feats in these next few days! Happy Fortieth Hunger Games to you all! And here you all go." He smiles widely again and the audience grows more wild as an interview with the head Gamemaker, Klaus Smithston, comes on a gigantic screen.

"So, what can we expect this year?" the voice of the unseen Julius says. On the video, you can see Klaus contemplate this question.

He hesitates, then continues. "You will definitely see some new things. What we plan on having this year is brand new technology, and we are desperately hoping that every one of our viewers is absolutely satisfied with the outcome."

"Oh, do tell! Do tell!" Julius eggs him on. The crowd laughs, seeing their idol beg.

"I can only give you hints, my friend. I will only say this, and this only: the snow is a _major element_," Klaus says with an evil grin.

Julius gasps, and the video is cut off, so the crowd can't hear the rest of the conversation.

The audience groans, wanting so much to know exactly what the twist is.

"Oh, now, don't be bad sports!" Julius says. "Besides, I have also interviewed the head scientist in charge of the arena!"

The screen lights up again, and there is a fairly young woman with bright blue hair and startlingly long eyelashes with a white lab coat seated at an angle adjacent to the interviewer. They are obviously in a lab, with the white, sterile walls around them.

The woman holds a tray holding four syringes, each a different color. One is green, one blue, one reddish-orange, and the final one is a brown-tan color. They are all clipped onto a pristine white clipboard, and each has a word written above it. The green one reads 'Earth', the blue one reads 'Water', the red one reads 'Fire', and the brown one reads 'Earth'.

The woman smiles, most likely very proud of her work.

The audience whispers and murmurs about their predictions as to what is in those tubes. They think it might have something to do with the blinding snow, and the fact that the last part they all saw was when the tributes passed out.

"Hello!" Julius says in the video. "What have we here?"

"Here, I have the DNA that will change science as we know it, and that will defy the limits we previously had in our arenas!" she says excitedly. "I am holding the vials of the DNA examples that were injected into the snow."

"Ah! Is there a link here between the blindness and these tubes?" Julius asks.

She smiles. "Right you are! Actually, the blindness was only temporary. It was merely a side effect of the medicine stimuli that was ingested by the tributes. There was so much going on in the body that the weakest and softest part of the body had to succumb to the poisons while the body was adjusting to the DNA. In this case, the weakest part is the eye. It was quite perfect, the order of deaths. There were twelve tributes that ate the snow, and that was exactly how much DNA we had created."

"Wow. I must admit, I am _very_ impressed with you all this year!" Julius exclaims.

"Thank you! And the part to come is what I have here: the elemental DNA! Each tribute ate snow in a sectioned area that was pertaining to the power, or element, that they ingested. When they awake, they will all find themselves in a very different world than expected," she says.

"So," Julius begins," may I ask what happened with the shield for those who ate the snow?"

"Of course! We built a shield into the DNA so that the tribute that used it would not die and so that the DNA would be put to its full potential. We certainly did not want our good money to go to waste on some useless tribute!" she says lightly.

"That was genius, Kat!" Julius says with a laugh.

She smiles. "Thank you, again! Now, when the tributes awaken, they'll find the blindness and the shield have worn off, but has been replaced with a power of the elements- earth, air, water, or fire. I think that it is quite a significant twist that we will be seeing here," Kat says.

"Thank you for your time, dear!" Julius says, and then the screen goes blank. The audience is in awe. They are silent and frozen. Then, after a moment, they go wild, cheering and whistling and clapping.

But there is _always_ more to it than there appears to be.

And that applies here.

The president smiles from his office as he sees the crowd go wild with applause.

They will never see what is coming in the next days.

_**District One- Nic's girlfriend, Rachael**_

Rachael looks at the tiny screen in shock. What power will her Nic have? She hopes he will be brave and fearless for her. She needs him to come back to her.

She can't believe that they added extra DNA into the snow. How did they do that? How did they create that kind of gene? she wonders to herself. How is that possible? Will he be the same when he comes home?

If he comes home?

She sure hopes so.

Because she doesn't know what she would do if her Nic comes home as a different person, although that is to expect. No one comes back from the Hunger Games the same person they were.

Never.

_**District One- Kyja's family**_

They stare in shock after the announcer fills them in on the secrets. They are momentarily caught off guard. How is that possible? They ask themselves. How can snow do such a thing?

They are shocked and confused, but they still wish her the best.

She is doing the best she can in there, and they can only hope that she continues on like that.

But only time will tell.

_**District Two- Aryan's family**_

Dylan sits in front of the family television, gaping silently.

His brother got a power of some kind? That was so cool! Dylan is jealous of Aryan, and he wishes that he had volunteered instead of his brother. But you can't go back in time, can you?

So Dylan keeps watching, and gets slightly suspicious by the creepy glint in the scientist girl's eyes.

Oh, whatever, he thinks.

_**District Two- Lexy's boyfriend, Caleb**_

He watches her fight and battle her way out of tough situations, and loves her more and more for it. She is strong and amazing, and he loves her so much.

But he knows that her family disapproves of them as a couple. He tries to win them over as hard as he can, but he just can't. They don't respect him, and despise his views on the Hunger Games, which are strikingly similar to Lexy's.

But he doesn't care about them. He cares about her making it home to him, even if she is broken inside. Time can heal any wound.

_**District Three- Chase (and Lindsey's) family**_

They sit quietly around the tiny screen, tears silently pouring from each parent's eye. Will they be just adults, soon, with no children? They have already lost one child of theirs. Will they have to lose another?

They already saw her body, stained in the disgusting color of red blood.

They refuse to wear any colors now. They are black and white. They are no colors. They are empty and sad.

They are shells, and have no hope left.

_**District Four- Ryan's family**_

Ryan's younger sister, Emma, sobs and screams at the funeral for her beloved older brother. She misses him as she screams his name over and over. Why did he have to leave her? Why did he have to fight?

Emma misses him.

And when she hears about his dead girlfriend, she cries even harder.

He's gone, and she's a lone sibling now.

What will she do?

_**District Four- Kaitlin's family**_

They are proud of her as they watch the recaps of the Games. She is strong and is a natural fighter. They respected her choice of not volunteering, even though she was Reaped. No one volunteered for her, so she was whizzed off into the Capitol, the place of food and riches.

They hope she had a good time there.

They also hope that she sees the Capitol again.

They even dare to hope and believe that she will see them again.

But will she be the same?

There's no way of knowing.

_**District Six- Joshua's family**_

They cannot believe that he has made it into the Final Twelve. He is much more determined and clever than they had thought.

Even when his family finds out that he has been infused with a foreign DNA cell, which for all they know could have been created in their own lab, they are still proud of him for making it as far as he has.

Even his little sister smiles as she hears about his survival.

Maybe they will have a winner this year.

_**District Seven- Jason's family**_

His family is ashamed of what he has become. Their beloved son, a murderer. A killer, a criminal. They had thought better of him. They had thought that he was a decent, respectable kid.

But the Games have changed him, and they are ashamed.

But there is also a tiny part inside of each of them that asks one question:

Would I do that if I were in his position?

_**District Seven- Eve's family**_

Her sisters cries in front of the television set, even though her older sister is still alive. The young one is sad because she doesn't want to her sister to be blind.

Even when their parents tell her that she won't be blind forever, the little girl still cries. She refuses to listen to them.

She thinks she has lost her older sister.

Her role-model.

She wants Eve to return.

_**District Eight- Shayna's family**_

Her family cries in the rain, as the funeral proceeds. They cry over her delicate body that is touched with the deadly streak of crimson.

The man talks on as they cry.

Wilting flowers are placed into her cheap coffin, a crown of daisies woven by her older sisters. There is even a drawing of her and her lover, Ryan, placed in the coffin.

The family cries and cries, and remember her in the pounding rain that demands to be heard and felt.

They finally give in and leave.

Her body is left in the rain.

At least now she and Ryan can be together in peace.

_**District Nine- Lukas' family**_

They quietly smile as they watch him join the Careers. He is strong enough to do that.

They cry and yell when they see him eat the poisoned snow on purpose.

And they cry again as they see him fall down, seemingly dead.

They are proud of him for making it this far.

They hope he can make it home, but understand that he probably cannot.

_**District Ten- Tyler's family**_

His family laughs when he tells his jokes even though he could possibly die.

And they all gasp when they see him fall silently to the snow.

What is happening?

_**District Ten- Hannah's family**_

They know that she is strong. They are proud that she is still alive. She has defied the odds, and she remains strong and proud.

But she is still down.

Why she has passed out, they don't know, but they are worried and confused.

**A/N: Hey, ya'll! I'm sorry about the slight wait- had family in town and then had tons of homework, so yep.**

**But I'm back now, with an out-of-arena chapter, because I wanted you to know a **_**small**_** portion of the twist. This is only just part of the twist. Yay! Next chapter will be back in the arena! Oh, yeah!**

**Thanks to you all for voting for your favorite! Your thoughts mean so much to me! Please keep reviewing and say what you thought! Say who is your favorite, as well!**

**Also, I just want to say you guys are amazing: this story has been running for just over a week, and already I have 71 reviews with only seven chapters! Guys, this is **_**really, really fracking amazing! **_**I just wanted you to think about that and give yourselves a big pat on the back. :D**

**Thanks again. Just for everything. I'm so glad people like my writing and that they read it.**

**Have a good week.**

**Bye!**


	8. Air Arena and Tributes

Chapter 8:

Air

_**Aryan, District Two**_

I wake up in a small concrete room, curled up in the corner. What the hell? Where am I? What happened?

I stand up and see that I am in the room that I was in before the Games started. Wait….Why am I here? Was all of that a dream? Have I not even been into the arena yet? Why am I down here? The last thing I remember is eating the snow after fighting that Kyja girl. Was that real?

But I also remember going blind after that, though. And I can see now. What is going on?

There is a plastic chair in the corner, with a small note card on it. I pick up the note and see that it says '_Air'._

Air? What is that about?

Suddenly, the card flies from my hand and is thrown to the other wall, as if by an invisible giant. I step back to the card and pick it up. Examine it. There's no fan or anything on it. So why did it fly away from me? I swear I didn't blow on it.

Again, the card flies from my hand, and this time it swirls around in the air, like it's caught up in a mini tornado. What is happening?

Is it me? Am I doing this? How did I do it the second time? Or even the first time?

I thought about the air thing, and it flew from my hand. And I was also concentrating on the paper in my hand. Is that the reason?

I grab the card again, and this time I concentrate on myself and the 'air' thing. I want to see if it is only with the card, or if the 'power' will work on anything. I guess this is like telekinesis in a way.

And as I think about it, I feel myself float up. I look down in surprise, and see that my feet are no longer touching the ground. I'm flying!

But the second I stop concentrating on it all, I fall like a heap of bricks to the ground.

"Damn," I groan, rubbing my forehead. I can feel a bump already forming there.

Whatever. It's worth it. I have a freaking power! I am power!

A loud beeping noise fills the room, and suddenly a huge glass tube comes down from the ceiling. This is exactly what happened a day ago. The glass slides apart, like an elevator, and I step in with a grin. Whatever is to come, I am ready for it. I have this power, and I am almighty.

And just as the tube sucks me up, I concentrate on the old plastic chair, and it flies to the other side of the room with a crash. I smirk to myself.

_**Nic, District One**_

I think I am in a dream until I see the small cut on my wrist. I earned that in the arena. But I was only in there for a day. Where am I now?

I am in a small cold room that is strangely familiar. It looks like the room I was held in before the Games started. But why am I here now? A loud static noise crackles above me, and I jump in shock. I come up to my feet, alert and ready. But there's no one, just a metallic voice filling the room.

"Tributes of air, please enter the tube. You will be entered into the arena momentarily."

I look across from me to see a clear tube shoot up from the floor, and it splits in half, as if it has doors. I shrug, disregarding the strange words from a moment ago, and enter the tube. The familiar feeling of my stomach dropping returns as I shoot up into the concrete above me, gray and white blurring around me.

Why am I coming back up? What is going on right now? Wasn't I already in the Games?

But I forget all of that when I rise up from the ground, on a silver platform. I squint against the brightness when I get all the way up from the ground.

Instead of twenty-three people surrounding me, and a gigantic Cornucopia in the middle, I see two boys spread out evenly from me, making us into a triangle around the center, red Cornucopia. This one is considerably smaller, and I can only see jugs of water and backpacks in it.

There are no weapons. What in the hell is going on here? Why are there only three of us? And why is the arena totally different? All I see for miles and miles around me is just white ground. There is no vegetation surrounding me.

And then I realize something strange. I look across and see Aryan. That's fine. But the weird part is that his face is black and white, like old footage at school.

I can't see the blonde hair of his, or the muddy brown eyes of his. I squint my eyes, and look closer, but nothing changes. He is still in black and white. I look down at my own skin, which is no longer gloved, and I find that it is not a fleshy pink color, but it is a grayish white color.

What is happening?

"Welcome, Tributes of Air, to the Fortieth Annual Hunger Games! You may all be a bit confused right now, but as they say, ignorance is bliss! You may notice that there are no weapons in the Cornucopia before you. There is a reason for that. I believe that the more clever tributes have figured out why."

I hear Aryan cough from his plate, and I see he is smirking.

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be _ever_ in you favor!"

The gong sounds, and we are all off, sprinting from our mounds on the ground into the center where the valuables lay.

I guess there are no alliances here, are there?

I am all alone, but I will win.

Are we the only tributes left? I sure hope so, so then I can get home faster. These two ought to be easy. At least the Jason guy will be. Aryan will be a little more difficult to tackle, but I believe in myself.

_**Jason, District Seven**_

I don't care what the man says. I just run off of my plate when the gong sounds, and sprint into the middle where Aryan and Nic are. How funny. All Careers in one arena. And yes, I consider myself a Career.

There are no weapons in here, but that's fine. I can use my strength against these two sticks of boys. I tower over both of them, and really, the only competition is Aryan. I need to knock him down first, and then the Nic boy will be easy as pie.

I get in first, since my spot was directly in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia. I reach down, and grab a black backpack, scooping it onto my shoulders. There is a jug of water at my foot, and just when I bend down to grab it, I am pushed away into the red wall of the horn.

Immediately, I stand up, and look around angrily for who pushed me. But I see no one. Only the fine white sand for miles, and a desolate gray sky above me.

Why is the sky gray? And why is my hand gray? Am I seeing things? Am I now half blind?

Am I color blind?

I don't have time to waste on stupid things like this. Who cares if I am color blind now. I don't, but I need to find who shoved me. I grab the jug and shove it into my backpack, then charge out of the Cornucopia. I sprint around it, and find Aryan and Nic together, laughing like fools.

Suddenly, I am shoved back again. But no one is near enough to me to push me.

"What the hell?" I bark angrily at them. Aryan raises his hand to me, palm first, and I am flying backwards, and my backpack is on the ground below me as I skid across the ground on my ass.

I feel like a total fool, here, on my ass because of two short guys with mind powers that can push me over.

I stand up slowly, anger boiling up inside of me. I narrow my eyes at them, thinking about how they could possibly throw me over like that. And then I see Aryan flying through the air, but instead of hitting the ground and skidding like I just did, he flies up into the air, hands palm down to the ground. Nic's hair flaps around in the wind from Aryan.

How is he floating? I know that I managed to throw him, but how did I?

As I am thinking about it, I feel myself being thrown into the red wall again. This time my head clacks loudly against the metal, and I gasp in sharply. I put my hand to the back of my head, and feel warm liquid rush from the spot of impact.

I slide down to the sand, hand still on my head. There is way too much blood now. The world goes fuzzy around me.

_Am I dying?_ I think.

I hear a tiny voice in the back of my head, and slightly tilt my head to hear it better. It sounds like a girl's voice.

_What? _I demand.

_Who is this? What's going on right now?_ the voice replies.

_Jason, District Seven. No clue why, either. Who are you? _ I ask.

_Eve, District Seven, too. How can this be happening? Are we really talking over mind power?_

_I guess so, Princess, _I grunt in my mind. My head is pounding now, and I can feel the blood flowing down over my neck. _I don't really have time to chat now. Too busy bleeding to death, at the hands of some short kid. _

_Ouch, sorry. Well, have fun in death. I've heard that it's a lot better than this hell-hole._

I laugh a bit. I remember her from school. She was pretty funny, even though I didn't really know her. I always wanted to meet her, but she was always surrounded by a big crowd of her friends. I was always shy around groups. I still am, actually.

_I can hear you, you know._

_Oh, sorry._

_Why did you want to meet me? I'll tell you now, there's nothing exciting about me,_ she says.'

I roll my eyes, but it costs me too much pain, so I stop. The world blurs around me again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, grinding my teeth in pain.

_Shit, shit, shit,_ I think.

_Where'd you get hurt?_

_Head injury._

_I'm sorry I never really talked to you. Seems like we would've been friends,_ she thinks to me. I smile a little.

_Goodbye, Eve, the friend I never had._

I am thrown against the wall once more, and the world explodes before me into bright colors and flashes.

_Goodbye, Jason._

I land back onto the ground, eyes shut, curled into the fetal position. Every bone in my body feels as if it's broken. It's not just a head injury anymore. I am dead meat, as far as they are concerned.

I know I'm dying. I know blood rushes from my body now. I can feel some bones piercing the skin. It hurts, it hurts like hell, but I know I'm dying.

Maybe Eve is right. Maybe death is better than this hellish life.

I sure hope so.

I can feel myself fade away as the pain abates and the sounds of Aryan and Nic's boots grow farther and farther away from me.

I'm gone now.

_**Aryan, District Two**_

Nic and I have agreed to split from each other, and be away for as long as possible, until the Gamemakers force us back to the Cornucopia to kill each other off.

I sprint away from Nic, supplies and such in my arms.

Do I feel remorse for that murder?

No.

He nearly killed my ally, and I barely knew him.

No regrets whatsoever, even as his cannon booms in the distance.

**A/N: Oh yeah, getting to the good parts! I'll start posting the deaths of the main characters (all of the ones that I have written for).**

**District Four- Ryan**

**District Five- Braden**

**District Seven- Jason**

**District Eight- Shayna**

**Okay! That list will grow soon here! Okay, tributes with the least amount of votes will die, so please vote for your favorite and keep them alive, for at least a day more! We all thank you! (My friend typed that, haha.)**

**Sorry about the not daily thing, I was a little busy with homework and stuff, but I'll try to update again soon!**

**Thanks again! **

**Goodnight or good bye! **


	9. Fire Arena, Part One

Chapter 9:

Fire Part One

_**Chase, District Three**_

Am I still blind? Why is my hand gray?

I guess that wouldn't be considered blind, but I do think that my eyes are definitely damaged, maybe even beyond repair.

I take inventory of what I have now. I'm not in a heavy jacket and clothes like I was earlier. I have on a skintight short-sleeved shirt, with a strange vest on top, and long, loose gray pants with rugged boots. Why am I here, with new attire? What's going on now?

"Tributes, please prepare to enter the arena," the female metallic voice says. I step into the glass tube that has just appeared before me. The second I step in, I regret it. Maybe I could have run away, could have stayed in the small concrete room and waited to be killed quickly and painlessly by the Peacekeepers.

But the doors have already closed around. My new fate has been sealed.

But maybe I can win. If I am determined, I can win. Am I going up there against other tributes now? Why am I down here right now? Thoughts and questions fly around in my head as fast as the grays and blacks of the walls around me do. I am shooting up into the air quickly, I can feel my stomach dropping.

And finally I burst up, into the surface. The sky above me is a blood red, I notice that immediately. Everything around me is black. The ground is, the tall, pine-like trees are. Even the gigantic volcano before me is. The only colors are black and red here.

The Cornucopia is red again. And it is much, much smaller than it was earlier. I can't see its contents, though, because the mouth is facing the opposite way. To my left is a boy, and to my right is another boy. Both have their district number stitched into the side of their arms. One is from en, and the other is Six.

But why are there only three of us? And why is the Cornucopia so small? Are we the final three? Did I pass out and wake up now, in the end?

"Tributes of the element fire, welcome to the arena, again," the announcer says with an evil laugh. "You will find some very unexpected things will happen soon here. You must learn to adapt to the changes, or you will die. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be _ever _in you favor!"

A gong sounds, exactly like it sounded the first time. I don't know what's in the Cornucopia, but I don't think it could possibly be of any worth to me, so I decide to go with my previous strategy: flight.

I sprint from my platform into the black forest, one that is strangely familiar to the one from earlier. I am running into the darkness when the ground shakes and rumbles under me. Is it an earthquake? What's happening here?

Suddenly, the air of the arena is sweltering hot, I am pouring sweat within seconds, and there is an almighty shake, and then a deafening sound. The red sky is cut into by a bizarre orange glowing color. I look up in surprise and then put the pieces together.

The shaking, the heat, the orange… It's all from the volcano. And it has just erupted. I need to get out of here, and now. My skin feels like it is burning off now. I wonder if it is melting on me. That would be a most gruesome and painful death.

I am now running in the opposite direction of the volcano. I hear screaming behind me, and turn to see a sight that I will never forget.

The District Six boy running towards me, Ten on his tail, with a twisted and melting face. My eyes widen as he approaches me, horror and fear in what is left of his eyes.

"Run!" his mangled mouth screams. "Run!"

The boy behind him has a clear body, free from burns, and a large gasmask on that some Peacekeepers wear rarely.

I am still frozen in place, when I see Ten stop running. His hand is on fire. He screams in pain, but stops in mid-yell.

Six stops and turns to him.

"Ahh! My hand is on fire!" Ten screams in horror. Six comes close to him, examining his hand.

I look at them, next to each other, confused. Wasn't Ten just chasing Six?

"Wait, what's going on?" I yell to them. They're about twenty feet from me.

"My hand is on fire!" Ten yells in amazement. He sounds almost happy about it. "But it doesn't hurt!"

I take a step closer unconsciously. I stare, shocked at what I see. Fire is shooting up from his hand, nearly dancing on his palm, and then it shoots up into the air, and explodes with a roar. Fire bursts above us, and I can feel the heat and pain again.

"How did you do that?" I ask cautiously. I take a few more steps forward, mesmerized and amazed.

"I-I don't know!" he says, looking in question at his hands. "I just thought about the volcano's fire, and my hand fired up."

I look at him in question, but do it. I concentrate on the fire from the volcano, and my hand suddenly lights up, the flames licking my body. But I don't feel that pain now.

I'm surprised that we are at a stand-still right now. Shouldn't one of them be trying to kill me? Or the other way around?

Why am I not killing them now? I could do it, if I wanted to win. I could kill them both now, since I have this power. But why would I do that? Am I really that heartless?

But I need to win. To prove it for Lindsey. I will win for her.

Which is why I whisper sorry, close my eyes, and aim my hands toward the two boys.

**A/N: This is EXTREMELY short, so I am going to post the second part of this arena tomorrow night or Wednesday night. I just really wanted to update tonight, so I am here now, telling you all this.**

**Just in case you didn't know, Six is Joshua, and Ten is Tyler. **

**So, what happened to Joshua's face? Was it Tyler? Or something unnamed? Leave your ideas in a review! Leave your favorites of this arena in a review! Remember, winner is based off of realisticality and favorite votes, so you must vote!**

**Review, leave your thoughts! Please, tell me any ideas you have! Anything that will help with the story! Thanks to all of you!**

**Love ya, bye!**


	10. Fire Arena, Part Two

Chapter 10:

Fire, Part Two

_**Tyler, District Ten**_

I take my mask off with terrible timing.

"Whoa, dude! What's going on?" I ask the boy from Three. He's closed his eyes, and his blonde hair falls down into his face. Suddenly, fire shoots from his hands, aimed towards Josh and me. It hits us full on, the flames tearing at our flesh. I scream in pain and crumple on the ground.

I am on fire.

"Oh, God! What did I do?" Three yells frantically, but I can barely hear him. The fire hit me straight on, protecting Josh a bit from the flame. I am in the fetal position on the dead black ground. Josh steps over me and rushes at the boy. I guess our momentary alliance is taking place. I know I shouldn't ally with him, but we don't know what will happen. Maybe we are the final three.

Maybe there are others somewhere else. Maybe we'll find them. Right now, though, I can't afford to think like this. I must go into survival mode.

There is no talking. They are engaged in battle right now. I know I should roll around to kill the hopping sparks, but I can't move right now. I hear somebody grunt, and a large thud. I want to see who it is, I hope it's Josh. Maybe Three will want to finish me off too.

But why the sudden character change? He seemed like a sincerely good guy, in training and in the interview. But people bluff all of the time. And he might just be an incredible actor. Or maybe grief struck him: after all, his twin sister _did_ die, and they seemed pretty close. I could see his inspiration and reasoning in that case, but the quickness in which he changed is alarming.

"Dude, are you okay?" Three asks me.

Shit, it's him.

Despite the extreme pain, I sit up and scoot back on my ass in terror. He just steps closer to me, and I want to move away, to run away, but I know I would fall and die.

But I can use my fire now! I showed him how to do it. Why? I feel so stupid right now. Actually, stupid cannot even begin to describe how I feel right now. I caused an innocent boy's death. If I manage to not die right now, I know karma will catch up with me someday. My grandparents always taught me 'what goes around comes around.' And in this case, I'm pretty sure the karma's so extreme that it will turn into the 'eye for an eye' logic that they also taught me about. Damn.

"Stop, Tyler!" he yells at me. I keep scooting back. "He's not dead!" I stop scooting back.

"What?"

"The boy, he's not dead! His cannon never went off!" the boy yells in excitement. I can tell he's devastated at what he's done, but feels better because he hasn't fully done it.

So I won't burn in hell, then. Good to know.

But right now, I am burning on Earth, and I know I am dying. So I beg the near-murderer for help.

_**Josh, District Six**_

I feel myself slipping into unconsciousness after I fall to the ground. I want to tell Tyler not to worry, that the boy tried to help me, but I can't talk or move right now. My thoughts are like syrup: slow and distorted. I know I fell from my face. There was starting to be blood, and some other yellowish liquid, and then my head started spinning, and then I found myself on the ground, wishing I was dead.

Correction: wishing I am dead. I am still in that pain, although, luckily, it is slowly evaporating. And clearing. And with it, so are my thoughts. My mind is not here in the Hunger Games. It's in Hell. Creatures swarm me and I scream. They are hideous creatures, ones with long tentacles and slimy skin made of blood. Some are floating, their eyes rolled up into their heads, and others slither towards my feet. I panic, and try desperately to kick them off, but the more I kick off, the more there are.

Then a terrible beast similar to a human approaches me. It is super tall, towering over my puny 5'7". The thing has oozing skin made of what looks like muscles and blood, similar the tentacle one.

I scream and try to back away, but I am frozen under the haunting glares from these things around me. Am I alive? Am I in hell? What's going on? What are the creatures before me?

"I'm here to help you," the twisted blood-muscle man says. His voice is cold and reverberates through my frightened bones. "Wouldn't you want to join us, Josh? You don't need them! They tried to kill you."

I guess he's right, but what does joining them mean for me? What would I become? Would I look like them? Do I already look like one of them? I feel like I am part. I try to talk, to move, but my body is on fire again, and the red-dark world around me wavers and fades to reality.

Three stands over me, a tiny tear dripping down his blushed cheek. "Are you okay?"

I want to scream at him: "I have been burnt to a damned crisp, man! What the _hell_ do you think the answer is?" But my face is in too much pain to say so much. Instead I just mumble something out. I try to groan, to show my pain, but I don't know how he interprets it. I guess the right way, because he pulls my tight grey shirt off and screams when he sees the damage. It's not nearly as bad as my face, which is a toxic acid burn, but this one is most likely third-degree, so it's bad.

"What do I do?" he screams, panicky. I want to tell him to shut up, but can't.

Why doesn't he just kill us now? He would probably be the winner, right here, right now. But he seems like such a nice guy, such a _pussy_, so I know he would not do that. Although he did have a major character change when he tried to kill us. Maybe he's just bipolar.

He is bent down over me, when his blue eyes light up. I try to twist around to see what it is, but I end up kind of writhing around like a pathetic worm, and can't see anything.

"Who's it for?" Three asks. What is it? "I think it's addressed to Tyler…"

He walks over behind me and hands something to Tyler (I think: I have no clue what he actually does). With a bit of effort, I push myself enough so that I can flop over to face Tyler. He holds a tiny white parachute in his charred black hand. I don't think he can even open it. Three takes it, and opens it for him, without taking anything. I guess he's in 'Nice Guy' mode right now. We'll see where that goes.

"'Tyler- Use it right. Don't waste it, don't be stupid,'" Three reads from a small slip of paper. "I think- I think it's burn cream."

"Give it- give it to me!" Tyler shouts. He almost jumps up, but winces a bit, and returns to the ground.

"Carb by hag snome?" I slur out. He looks at me in confusion, then realization dawns on him. Suddenly, my vision blurs and blacks around the edges. I get off of the elbow I was leaning on, and lay straight down.

"Sorry, man, I need it," Tyler says as the real world ripples and returns to the Hell from earlier.

**A/N: Sorry, you guys. I have been REALLY, REALLY sick lately- like, fall-asleep-at seven-and-not-get-up-until-much-too-late sick. Like, can't-even-get-up-for-computer sick. But I'm a TINY bit better, so yay! I apologize for the supposed update-a-day thing. Was it really realistic? Uh, no. Sorry, again.**

**Please, keep voting. I want to know which of these three should die! I'll tell you who has how many from this division, so you know to vote for your favorite if they're in danger.**

**Tyler- 13**

**Chase- 4**

**Joshua- 8**

**Chase begs ya'll for votes, but that's bribery, so I'm thinking he's going to be next… MUHAHAHA! Sorry, Chase.**

**Okay, getting tired, going to bed.**

**Also, by the way, I'm going to Oregon until Christmas Eve, with no computer, so there will be no update before Christmas. Sorry.**

**Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or any other wintery holiday you celebrate!**

**Bye, love you all, and will have death poll on next chapter! **


	11. Water Arena

Chapter 11:

Water Arena

_**Kaitlin, District Four**_

I squint as my plate lifts me to ground-level. It was so dark in that holding room down there, and it feels good to be up here, with natural air again. I have no idea what's going on, or why I was down there for a second time, but I'm glad to be up where people will be. This is my chance to take the crown that I deserve.

As soon as I get up, away from the cement room, I am hit with a downpour. It's pouring down rain, the water hitting my skin and clothing immediately. It's coming down hard enough that I would think that my clothes would be soaked through, but I'm still dry as a bone underneath, which I'm thankful for. My air, though, is soaked through by now, but honestly, I don't really care. It feels good, in a way. Refreshing and cooling.

The second thing I notice is the actual arena around me. Again, the Cornucopia is a bright red and I can hear the rain pound against it. I wonder if it will rust, assuming it continues to rain like this. Another thing I see is the surrounding. There's nothing, really. Just a pale white ground below the plate I stand on. I wonder what they plan to see us do with absolutely nothing around me. And then I see the others: there are two more people, both of them are girls. One has long brown hair in a high ponytail, and the other one I recognize as Kyja, a Career girl from District One. The brown-haired girl looks around in fear, but there is a slight smirk on Kyja's pale face. Why are there only three of us? I do remember passing out, and waking up in a freaking holding room, but that can't mean this is already the Final Three, can it? I mean, I have no idea how the other girl would have made it this far.

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud male voice that sweeps across the arena. "Welcome, tributes of water, to your new arena! You may all be slightly confused, but that's natural, given your situation." The man stops and laughs to himself. "You will notice that there is a lack of weapons in the Cornucopia, and you will soon find out why. Now, you have ten seconds before the gong will sound. Happy Hunger Games, good luck, and may the odds be _ever_ in your favors!"

Hmm… His little speech was quite interesting. I wonder what he meant by 'tributes of water' and I'm pretty confused as to why there are no weapons in the Cornucopia, but I will have to work with it. But I've no clue how they expect us to kill each other with nothing. I think this will create quite the boring Games for the Capitolites. Whatever. It's not like they deserve anything good, really.

_Nine, eight, seven._ I'm ready. Sure, there're no weapons, but they've got to have other supplies, which I will end p needing. Although I'm not sure how we will be able to run from each other in this arena. One of us will figure out a way to kill, and they'll kill all the rest to win. I just hope that person is me.

_**Kyja, District One**_

As soon as the man says 'one', I am off my plate and sprinting as fast as I can to the Cornucopia to get what I can get. The other tributes are shying away from the center, but then determination crosses the girl from Four's face, and she runs in to where I am. The other girl stays by her plate, watching us, fear in her eyes. I smile at her, but she flinches, so I give her a glare. She has nowhere to run, really. I have no clue what they plan on doing with us in here, but whatever. They'll probably figure that out soon.

I'm in the center now, taking in what's before me: an empty bucket, some empty water bottles, a backpack that looks full, some packets of food, and tons of other useless things. I'm not sure what to grab, so I grab the backpack, slip it over my shoulders, and run to the Four girl. Fear seeps into her eyes, but she immediately shakes it off and keeps coming. The other girl is staring at us nonstop. I'll get her later.

Just before I get to the girl, I think her name's Kaitlin, I stop. She stops too and we stare at each other. Once I'm this close to her, I notice that her skin is a gross gray color. And her hair is a dull black-gray color. Weird. It looked brown from on my plate. It's not important.

"What do you want, Kyja?" She spits out my name as if it's dirt. I give her an innocent look. She doesn't really know me, so she can't tell if it's real or not.

"What do you think I want? I want victory, I want to win. And how, exactly, do you think I do that? Oh, right, by killing. And since I'm already here, I might as well take my first step to victory and get rid of you. Now, I don't know where the other tributes are, but I'll just start with you, then her." And as soon as I finish my sentence, I lunge at her legs, knocking her to the ground. I have no weapons, but I trained for hand to hand combat quite a bit in the Capitol and at home. She starts to scream, but as her back slams against the cold, hard ground, all of the wind is knocked out of her. I have an advantage right now, and I use it.

She's directly on her back, so I scramble on top of her, one knee on either side of her so I'm straddling her. Kaitlin breathes in with some trouble, then tries to escape my hold. I punch her straight in the nose, not hard enough to break it, though.

"Shit," she says under her breath. A little bit of blood has seeped from her nose onto her lips and chin. Kaitlin tries to lift her hand to wipe it away, but I don't let her. I punch her again, much harder this time, and I hear a crunch. But I don't stop to let her cringe and gag. Blood flies up onto me as I punch her yet again, this time in her cheek. Her legs start to flail and kick me, so I know I need to do it fast. I need to kill her, and the only way, now, is to strangle her.

I bring my hands down to her neck and quickly start to squeeze. She kicks even more, harder, and her hands are beating against the ground, scraping the cold, trying to escape me. Harder, I start to squeeze harder and harder. She chokes and gasps, begging to be released. But I can't, not now. I'm so far.

And then there is a cry from behind me, and then a cracking noise, and suddenly I'm underwater and my hands are no longer grasping Kaitlin's neck. I don't know what just happened, but luckily I know how to swim, so I make my way up to surface. At least, I try to. I keep clawing at the water above me until I get to something hard that I can't claw through. I pound my fists against it, needing to breathe and scream and kill, but I can't. My lungs feel like they're going to explode.

I punch uselessly, my arms tiring and slowing down. I need to breathe, to get up to the air, but I just can't. Weak and tired, I quit. Suddenly, the bluish water around me starts to go black and fuzzy and my vision fails me. I know it. I'm dying. I'm drowning. But it feels surprisingly good. My body is warm and slow, and then I can't move at all. I don't care though. I'm happy, right now.

I open my mouth, and take in a deep breath. Huh, this air is all thick and watery. I cough it out, but more comes in and then I am sinking. My head hurts, and I feel heavy. And then everything around me starts to just fade away until there's nothing.

I'm nothing.

_**Eve, District Seven**_

_BOOM!_

Her cannon. I just killed a Career. I'm trembling, and wet, and the ice is slightly cracked where she pounded on it with her cold fists. I can't believe I'm a murderer. I sink to my knees, the guilt coming now. I can hear the other girl, the one I saved, coughing and choking, and when I look at her, I see she is rubbing her neck and holding a sleeve to her broken nose. I watched all of that, and waited until the end to stop it.

Honestly, I don't know what I did. I was just angry, and scared, and then I saw the ground open up and pretty much eat the white-haired girl. There was water everywhere, flying and spinning and splashing us all, and then it was over, and the ice was completely flawless as if nothing had even happened. She was there one second, and gone the other. I kind of just stood where I was, the thought of saving the water girl not even crossing my mind. I just watched as she pounded on the ice for her life.

Cold-blooded murder. Dear lord. That's what I am. A killer. A cold, hard killer.

It continues to pour down rain as her death rings in my ears. I wonder where everyone else is. Are they dead? Can they hear the cannons we do? Are they somewhere else in the arena? I have no clue how far this ice stretches on for, and I might as well find out. Maybe I can find others, too.

And now I have a plan: to find other tributes. I run into the Cornucopia and look for useful things. I have to be quick, because I don't know how long the other girl will be down for. A tiny leather backpack is hidden in the back and I grab for it. It's actually not that small, once I pull it out.

I undo the buckles and open it up to see what's inside. A small pack of beef, some dried fruit, a weird looking silver blanket, and en empty water bottle. I gather some other things that are scattered in the Cornucopia, stuff them in my bag, and then leave. It's really dark now, the dark grey storm clouds have rolled in and the rain pours down relentlessly. I push my hair back from my face and look to find the girl. But she's gone.

I can't see her, and the area around me is completely open and flat.

Oh, this is not good.

**A/N: Here's another chapter for you guys! I'm so, so sorry about the wait. I was super busy for the holidays, and then I was going to update this a couple days ago, but we had a family emergency, so I couldn't post this. But all is well, and schedules come back into order tomorrow, so I'll probably be back to regular updates. Again, I'm so sorry!**

**I shall start posting a death toll from now on, because things will start moving much faster! Then, of course, they have to slow down. But that won't be for a while. So don't worry!**

**Dead (main) tributes:**

**District One- Kyja**

**District Four- Ryan**

**District Five- Braden**

**District Seven- Jason**

**District Eight- Shayna**

**We're getting down to the final ten! This is awesome, but it's only Day Two! I'll have to do a time skip or slow down the killing. Say which one you prefer in a review! It helps me know what you guys would want to read through. Thanks!**

**Um… Keep on voting for your favorites! Now, I'm kind of doing it based off of votes, so if someone has a low number, they're less likely to beat someone who has more. In a way, your votes are like sponsoring. Keep on doing it! Thanks, you guys.**

**I'm so happy you guys are reading and reviewing this. Thanks for sticking with me and reading. You all are awesome fans. Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. But quality over quantity, right? **

**Love you, bye!**


	12. Earth Arena

Chapter 12:

Earth Arena

_**Lukas, District Nine**_

I wake up with a throbbing headache and a swollen lip. My hand flits up to it and I flinch when I touch it. Oh, that hurts. It's really swollen, too. Damn. My vision is a bit blurry and I blink a few times to see better. I'm in a small gray room and there's a lonely looking chair in the corner. I'm hunched on the ground, so I get up and sit in the plastic chair. It's not much more comfortable, but I'll just stay here.

After a moment, my mind clears up and I start wondering. Why am I in here? Wasn't I just in the arena? Or was that a dream, and is this the real thing? But then why would I just wake up in here? Was I knocked out, and then crammed in here? I guess that makes sense if I have a blasting headache and a swollen lip.

But that dream was so real. The blindness, the Careers, the blood. Everything was so real… Did I really dream it all up? It only makes sense, right? I guess it doesn't matter, but I don't want to go up there again if I already was. So I just tell myself that it was a dream and that I am going for the first time. But still, there's this sneaking feeling that it was real. I shake my head. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I will have to go and fight again. Will the Careers accept me into their group, like they did in the dream? It's not realistic.

Suddenly a glass tube pops from the ceiling. This is all so familiar. I am having déjà vu right now. A voice says the exact same thing it did in my dream. This is so weird. I stand from the chair and enter the tube. I don't want to go up there. If it's anything like my dream, I don't want to see it. Hell, I don't want to go if it's a luxury home with food. I'd still get killed.

The voice finishes speaking, and then the tube zooms up into the sky above me. I am startled by the movement, but I relax into it and try to calm myself as I rocket upwards. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I wipe my sweaty palms on my loose black pants. Run my hands through my short blond hair. Take more deep breaths.

And then I'm in this incredible light, and right away I take in my surroundings. To the right side of me is a dense green forest with high pine trees. Straight ahead of me, behind the Cornucopia, is a giant hill covered in grass that stretches across the horizon, to the left side, and then continues until it blends into the forest. This actually doesn't look like a terrible arena. I only have to make it into the Cornucopia and then out again and then get to the forest. From there, I can hide.

But then I notice something that's really fricking weird: there're only three of us. There aren't twenty-four tributes, like there ought to be. There's a dark haired, short girl to my right. She's the one from District Two. And to my left is a tall light-haired girl. I don't recognize her from anywhere.

Both of them look pretty damn confused, just like I am. The red Cornucopia in front of all of us is much smaller than the ones pictured on television. And then a man's voice pops in and we are all startled. He informs us of the lack of weapons in the arena and says something like 'tributes of earth' but that makes no sense, since, of course, we are on earth right now. He also tells us that we will all soon make an important discovery. I've no clue what he means by that, so I ignore it. His voice stops and then the timer is back to counting down.

_Ten._

Do I run away?

_Nine._

The District Two girl will surely kill me.

_Eight._

What if there's something in there that I need?

_Seven._

I guess I have to go in.

_Six._

No, I don't.

My mind spins, confused. I don't know what to do, and there's only five seconds left to decide. I'll need to find water, immediately, and then a place to stay. I can't climb trees very well. I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go.

And then the gong sounds, out of nowhere, and I am running somewhere. My mind blinks everything out. Legs take me somewhere and I don't know where I am until I run into something. A tree. The pine needles stick into my clothing and I pull myself away from the tree and continue to run into the forest. Sometimes I trip over muddy gray stones or other things, but I get so deep into the forest that it begins to have occasional hills and lumps in the ground. When I get tired of running, I slow and walk. I won't let myself stop. I don't know why, but I am so, so afraid of the District Two girl. I get a bad feeling from her. Like she's really dangerous.

The sky turns from bright blue to purple to black as I continue on. Once it finally gets dark, I decide to sit down and make a camp. I have absolutely nothing, so I can't make a fire. I can't climb up the trees around me, and can't get into a sleeping bag or anything. And the temperature is starting to drop, quickly. I sit with my back to a tree and shiver, and then the anthem of Panem plays and the seal is bright in the dark sky. I squint up in confusion when two faces appear in the sky. How- how can people who aren't in the arena die? What's going on? What are they keeping from us?

_**Hannah, District Ten**_

I lay, shivering in the grass, on a tall hill and watch the sky. How can others be up there? Aren't there only three of us in the arena? And none of our faces are up there right now. Besides, I didn't hear any cannons go off. The faces of Jason and Kyja fade off, and the sky is lit up with blank light for a moment, until it switches away and I am back in the darkness of before.

Now I start to worry. Everyone knows that the District Two girl is blood-thirsty. In her Interview, she was ruthless and harsh, jumping on every single one of the interviewer's words. When we watched the other Reapings, she volunteered immediately, ripping the other girl off of the stage and scaring the escort to near tears. And then in training she kicked her trainer's ass, and proceeded to do that to every trainer that she had for those three days.

So I'm pretty worried about her coming and 'hunting' for the boy and me. I have no doubt that she will figure out a way to kill us, even with the weaponless arena around us. Rocks, sticks, pretty much everything could be used creatively for murder. I shudder at these thoughts. Why am I thinking like this? I should be trying to get shelter or even some sleep. Or maybe I could sneak into the Cornucopia. I didn't stick around when the gong sounded to see what the girl was doing with the supplies. I got the hell out of there.

Just as I am forcing my eyes to close, a huge rumbling starts underneath me. My head twitches up from the ground, and it gets harder and more forceful. I sit up, then jump up, which is a bad idea. I can't keep my footing with the shaking ground, and I immediately fall to the ground. It's a really hard fall, and I think I hear my wrist crack. I groan in pain and grab my wrist. An abnormal bump has arisen and I hope that it's not a bone, but have a really bad feeling that it is.

Should I stay here? I can't remember if it's good to get higher for earthquakes or to be lower. I think it's lower, so I get down on my hands and knees to crawl down to where the Cornucopia is, on my legs and my good arm. I get halfway down the hill when the shaking beneath me gets the worst and suddenly I am toppling down the hill, my limbs flailing and flying and slamming into the ground painfully until I stop and I think every bone in my body is broken.

The world around me spins slightly, and I see a warm golden glow before me. It must be a fire. I'm cold, and I want some heat. I can't think clearly right now. The only thing in my mind is the pain of my entire body and of my cold. I moan as a new pain comes to me. It's a sharp, jagged pain in my stomach and I scream in pain. Oh, God. This is the worst pain I've ever experienced. I want it to end.

I try to roll my body over to examine my stomach, but my other arm is now worse than the other one was, so I have to bear through this pain, and push myself over. I finally do, and what I see scares me very, very much.

_**Lexy, District Two**_

This is even better than having no weapons: I am my own weapon! My hands have the ability to kill and injure. I stand before the Cornucopia, and focus on it. A mountain erupts from the ground underneath the structure and now it's high above my head, on a hill top that nobody can reach. Except for myself, of course.

And now I test them even more. I close my eyes and imagine it happening: a huge, splitting crack going through the arena. It causes such a terrible quake, the ground shakes and rumbles and no one can stand. The crack in the ground goes so deep and far down that there is fiery magma and spitting lava that glows a bright orange color. I see people falling into the crack, and then I am proclaimed the Victor. This will be the most remembered victory in the Hunger Games history.

When I open my eyes, I see what I imagined. Well, for the most part. The ground beneath me is trembling and then it grows in ferocity, and then the split comes and I smile at the cracking noise, one that's probably similar to skulls cracking. Quickly, I make a tower under me and rocket up towards the sky on the tower I've created. I can't see the tributes yet, but they will come. I know they'll be here soon.

**A/N: This one was very, very short, but I wanted to get a chapter up again for you guys! I know my friends want to just see the winner already, so I'm trying to update quickly to have this finished before the school year ends- which is more than likely at this point.**

**Thanks for the reviews and votes and all! They really encourage me, and I am just so happy to read your thoughts on my writing and the characters. I love your predictions and opinions, so keep them coming!**

**Continue to vote for your favorites! Keep your tributes alive! And in the next couple of chapters, I might do a Capitol/District chapter. What do you think about that? Tell me what you would want to see in a chapter like that.**

**The death list is the same, so I have no need to repost it. **

**Umm..I think that's all I have to say for now, but I always remember what I needed to say after I publish the chapter, but then I forget by the next one. It's a viscous cycle.**

**Okay, bye! Don't forget to review, if you can! Thanks!**


	13. Day Three: Something's Changed

Chapter 13:

Day Three: Something's Changed

_**Aryan, District Two, Air**_

I sprint, arms full of goods, from the mini Cornucopia. I need to get away from Nic and try to find others. There might be other tributes in this arena, and if that's the case, then it means I might be able to find Josh. Or even the other Careers.

I haven't tired out yet, but I am growing thirsty, so I stop to rummage through the backpack I snagged. I search through it and find no water. There's some ugly-looking dried fruit, a tightly coiled yellow rope, a black jacket, and a few other useless items. No weapons, and no water. They're not making it easy for us, are they? Maybe I can use the air power to find water. I read somewhere that water is in oxygen. Or is it the other way around…

I might also be able to find water in the ground. Maybe I can figure out a way to pull the water from its hiding spot beneath us. I repack the bag and stand to continue, and then I notice it. Water, about a hundred yards in front of me. I don't know how I'll collect the water, but I'll figure that out when I get there. I slip the handles over my shoulders and run to the water.

Except, I don't actually reach the water. It's still there, a hundred yards from me, even though I've run quite a bit from where I was when I spotted it. What the hell?

I keep running, thinking maybe I tricked myself, but no, there it is, still that far away from me. I furrow my brow in confusion and look at it. The elusive water is about ten feet wide, but I can only see a sliver of it. The sun glimmers off it, and I feel blinded for a moment. And then it hits me: a mirage. We covered these in training back in Two. They form when the sun shines onto the sand at a certain angle and it creates the illusion of shimmering water. It makes sense now.

But this still does not fix my issue. I still need water, and I can feel the temperature rising rapidly, so that means I'll need it even more in the upcoming hours. I almost want to take my shirt off, since it's so hot, but I know that would only be more damaging. And, anyway, I don't want to Capitol getting a free show.

So I keep walking, needing to get farther away from Nic and Jason's body. I am not sure what I'm looking for, others maybe, but I have no way of knowing if there are even others. I mean, Nic and I could be the Final Two. I shrug the thought away. I can't kill him, can I? He has a girlfriend back home, a family.

But then, I guess other people who died did, too. We all have a family, something that ties us to where we're from. It doesn't matter how we feel: they're our roots, and who am I to take that, to rip people from their roots, their homes, their families?

And now, as I'm trekking across a never-ending desert, the impact of what I've actually done hits me hard, and full on. I'm the killer, the ripper. I've taken things I can't _ever_ give back to people. I have no right to do this to people. My stomach flips in my stomach with the word: _murderer._ That's what I am. Dear God… How could I not see this before? Why did I not think this completely through, not see the complications of taking lives?

My chest starts to crumple around my heart, and I feel the world shake around me. I'm the worst criminal, the most hideous thief, the ugliest person on the face of Panem. A killer. My knees give out under me, and I am sitting limply on the hot sand crying. I'm actually crying, and I know this will lose me respect and sponsors and everything, but it will give me a bit of my humanity back. And other than that, what is needed in life?

I can't believe this, what's going on. This is all like a dream, like some made up world. I want to wake up and say to my friends that I dreamt that I volunteered, like an utter _ass_, and went into the Games and became a murderer. But I can't, because this isn't a dream: it's real. And I have to deal with it. I have to live with it, don't I? I have to keep going, and win. Do what I can? But how can I do that when it requires killing people?

Do I really want to win that much? Do I need victory _that _much?

No. I don't. I'll clean my slate, and try to get as far as I can without killing. Maybe I can win, I might be able to do it, after all. We'll have to wait and see.

I calm myself, stand up, and continue with my walking.

…

I found a haven, an area of safety, as far as I know. I've climbed down into a dark canyon by the dank moonlight above me and managed to find water and caves and still, there's no one. I'm all alone down here, but it feels safe.

I wander over to where the water is, and, desperate for its cool feel on my skin, jump in. Immediately, I pop my head out from under the water, and flail my arms around. The water is scalding hot! I yell, despite myself, and throw my arms around everywhere to get myself up and out. Finally, my hands grab onto a slippery side of the pool, and I drag myself up and out of the water, breathing heavily.

My skin stiffens up and when I try to move, a terrible burning runs up and down my skin, and then the pain zips deeper, into my blood, pinging and zapping with every pulse of my veins and I gasp every time I feel it. This is not good.

I think I just jumped into an acid pool.

I'm freaking glad I didn't drink it first.

_**Josh, District Six, Fire**_

A searing pain rips up through my damaged skin and my swollen, puffy eyes try to open quickly, but it takes me a minute to force them open to see what the matter is. When they finally do open, I notice that it is dark around me, and that there is a face leaning down in front of me. It looks familiar, but I can't tell where I've seen it before. I try to blink but can't, so instead I just stare at them.

"Josh, can you hear me?" the person says. I nod stiffly, but quickly stop at the pain that burns through me. What happened? Where am I?

"Josh, something's happened. We have to get up and go. Now!" the person yells at me, and then the pain comes again in the same spot, and I realize that it's a slap. My parched throat gags on the air I try to use for a scream. I don't think I can move, I'm in so much pain everywhere on my body. I know I've been burned, I can feel it from the way my skin feels crisp, tight, on my bones.

I hear a pitter-patter above me and painfully crane my neck up to see where it's coming from. The black trees' branches spread like burnt fingers, reaching to each other above us. I see water pouring from the red sky, and feel a bit of it on my face. The cool of it soothes my burnt face, but only for a moment, and then it feels like I'm on fire again. I choke on my spit while screaming, and start coughing dryly.

"I can't move…" I finally mutter. The person, who I recognize to be Tyler, shakes his head and closes his eyes. Then he opens them and reaches his arms down underneath me, and I scream, loudly this time, at the ripping pain. I think the heat blisters are popping under me, and it's excruciating. I try to wriggle out of his arms, but I can't, I can't, I can't. The pain is stopping me from escaping it, in a way.

"Jesus, man, you're so heavy!" Tyler exclaims as he half-carries, half-drags me through the blackened forest. "Can you at least _try_ to walk on your own?" He stops abruptly, and I fall from his arms to the rough black ground beneath me. I groan as my back hits rocks. "Oh my God, dude. He burnt you pretty bad, the bastard. I mean, you look terrible. I really have to use this on you, I don't think you'll make it otherwise."

The words he says are garbled up and mixed together, and I can barely hear him. The pain is the worst it's been in the past few days, out of everything in the arena. I don't think I'll live. I know burns are one of the most deadly afflictions, especially as bad as I have them. I think it's called degreed burns or something. I can't remember, and using energy on stupid things like this is bad. I have to focus on staying awake, staying alive.

"Rain," I say quietly. "Need…rain." I want to get into the rain. I know I need water for the burns, but I can't communicate with him fully.

"No, sorry. There's something weird about this rain. It stings, for some reason," he replies as he searches through his backpack. I see him stop searching as he pulls a small silver cup out. He starts to unscrew the lid, and a clean, fresh smell of laundry floats around me, and for a moment, I'm back at home with my mom and my sister. But then the memory's gone as quick as it came and I'm back in the pain, in the Games. In hell.

He sticks his finger into the cup, pulls them out, and they're covered with a thick white cream. He looks me up and down in thought. "I don't know where to start."

"Face," I say. I want to get my face free of pain, and then my back and stomach. Arms and legs don't matter, do they?

He leans forward toward me, and gingerly touches my forehead, and I feel the cool gel soothe my skin and I audibly sigh with relief. The pressure of his fingers on my charred skin is terrible, unbearable, but I know it's worth it. This will save my life.

**A/N: Hi, my sweets. I hate having to write author's notes apologizing for the lack of update, but it must be done, because this topic cannot be avoided! I am so sorry, but I've just been busy with life. Up until now, I haven't actually had one to be attending to, but now I'm getting invited places! Yay for having a life!**

**Anyway, I'm super sorry, and next update will be sooner! And longer, with more action. So keep your eyes peeled for an update from me! I already know what will happen!**

**Okay, death list remains the same. If you are reading this, my friends, and you have died, I sincerely apologize.** **When I get to the final six, there will be a cool little chapter dedicated to the fallen, and I hope you guys all like that. I'm thinking it will be a Capitol perspective, and the interviewer will have a moment to remember each tribute, like in the show Survivor, how they walk up the hill and remember the other people.**

**Okay, review and love! Sorry again, update will be soon! Thanks for all the support and encouragement! You, my fans, keep me going. Have a good one.**


	14. Inside the Capitol (Time Skip)

Chapter 14:

Inside the Capitol

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome again to my show where I cover all that's going on in the arena! Romances, betrayals, and alliances!" Julius Flickerman says, a bright smile on his tanned face. "All right, so, the past few days in the separate arenas have been boring us. I've heard talk of a new one?"

He spins in his chair to face the Head Gamemaker, and they both smile. "The talk is correct. Viewer ratings are less satisfied with this arena, so we are currently putting one into place to be talked about for quite a long time, Julius!"

"That is just wonderful. So, do tell us, who are the favorites in the reviews?" Julius asks. The live audiences cheers and shouts the names of their favorite people in the Games. He smiles to the audience and patiently awaits the reply.

"The most favorite is Aryan of District Two, at the moment." There are screams and yells of peoples' approval. "People are also liking Kaitlin of District Four and Tyler from Ten. The ratings have come up quite interesting this year." Both of the men flash dazzling white smiles and the crowd goes wild, chanting tributes' names.

"Ah, yes indeed they have! Now tell us, sir, what are you hoping will come from the change in the arena? I must admit, I was a bit confused when it first happened. I settled in and became used to the new ones, but the tributes seemed to be getting tired out, bored even. It's been four days since that, five days in the arena total, and we are beginning to wonder: what will happen next? The death has stopped for some time, and we are left to wonder."

The Gamemaker smiles evilly, his fingers coming together in front of his face and tapping together. "I'm afraid I am not allowed to reveal that information, as it is still confidential. But, I will say this, so listen closely: I guarantee that the next few days will be worth _plenty_ of attention!"

The audience cheers crazily and Julius grins and chuckles. "I'm terribly sorry, but that's all the time we have for today. Please join us again, and happy Hunger Games!" More cheering, and the Gamemaker leaves the stage. Julius remains in his seat, and a desk slides up in front of him so he looks like a news reporter.

"And now," he drawls, "for the recap of the recent events in the arena of the Fortieth Annual Hunger Games!"

The screen of lights behind him shows pictures of all of the individual arenas, and some pictures show tributes becoming killers. One shows a tribute crying. People cheer as pictures of their favorite arena flash by.

"We'll start off with a quick refresher of who is dead, and who is alive!" The screen quickly changes to show a picture of the District One tributes, and below them is their name and status. The picture of the girl says deceased, and the boy's says that he's alive. The District Two tributes are both alive, but only the boy of Three is. The girl from District Four is alive, neither from Five, and the boy from Six is alive. Only the girl from Seven is, and both tributes from District Eight are dead. One, the boy, is alive from Nine, and both tributes, to the surprise of the Capitol, are alive from District Ten. Eleven and Twelve are extinct in the arena.

"There you have it, the Final Ten for the Games! Very exciting stuff, indeed. Some of our beloved tributes are in a critical condition right now, but they are still very alive. In the past days, we have seen some blood spilt and some alliances broken. No deaths have occurred since Day Two, and things are moving at a very slow pace. What's to be expected, though, when the strongest alliance is broken apart?" Julius asks.

He continues. "Now, I ask, what do you want to see?"

**A/N: This is the shortest thing I have posted, I think, but I wanted to give you guys a little something before I started the next few chapters. They will get more exciting. I promise!**

**Also, I posted this to let you know that I have put a time skip into place. Nothing worth seeing happened, I just wanted to get further into the Games so that the main event could begin. I am starting that chapter ASAP and I will post it in three days if I am motivated enough. **

**Tell me what your thoughts on the little time skip are. Some people were injured, and I know that I ended some chapters in ways that would suggest cliff-hangers, but I want you guys to explore the possibilities with your mind. Again, sorry for the shortness.**

**Please, review and love!**

**Have a good week.**


	15. Day Five: The Announcement

Chapter 15:

Day Five: The Announcement

_**Lukas, District Nine**_

I scream in pain as the rock flies into my shoulder. It's a sharp one, and it tears through the skin like a knife. I curse and yell, and turn ferociously toward the girl on my trail. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a small body. Lexy, from District Two. She's a killer, and she knows what she's doing. I try to run from her, but she's too fast, and I'm weak and pained right now.

I'm dead.

"You're done, Nine. Think you can outrun me?" Lexy yells out. I make the mistake of turning my head to look at her, and I know she will take the advantage to get me down while I'm distracted, but she doesn't. What she does surprises me.

She stops running, and actually laughs. The killer Career just stops and relaxes. She doesn't jump at the opportunity to kill me. What the hell?

"What the hell, Two?" I call to her. "Are you playing with me? Because I'm done with this shit, I'm sick of it. If you have to, why don't you just kill me now?"

She doesn't look at me, she just cocks her head to the side. It looks like she is hearing something I'm not and it's a little suspicious. Lexy looks almost pained, just for a second, but then she smiles and laughs again. Something's going on, and it can't be good.

"Hey, did you hear me?" I shout. Her head snaps toward me, and it's clear she can hear me now. A look of blood thirst glints in her eyes. The darkening sky makes her eyes look black, like one of the demons from fairytales my mom told me. That seems like a lifetime ago, now.

"Yes, I did. And you are fun to play with, Nine," she says, still staring at me crazily. The ground starts trembling under me, and I know what's coming. So I concentrate on what I want to happen, and there's a huge, loud cracking noise around us, and I can see the cracks web out under us, and I look to Lexy, and she's excited about this. I can't be weak before her, so I put up a façade.

"You know," I start, "I do have a name." I start the rock tower underneath me, and I think I can feel the power of the Earth surging through my veins, but I know that's not possible. I'm excited, too. I know I am,

"Oh, yeah. It's Lukas, isn't it?" Her tower begins to rise under her, and I know how this will go down. I narrow my eyes, but smile through gritted teeth.

"Congratulations," I spit out. I put my hands up, palms to her, and think about the earth splitting below her. But before anything happens, I feel the earth buckle under me, and my own tower is crumbling. How is she so fast at this?

I try to think of a quick solution, but no ideas come to me, so I end up just free falling, rocks beneath me, tumbling to the ground until we hit the ground. There's a hideous crunching noise as I slam into the jagged, broken rocks on the ground. I scream and cry out in pain, feeling the bones broken and fractured, and I think I even feel one or two puncturing the skin. I keep crying out, and I hear something, something awful.

Laughter. Joy at my pain.

This girl's a sadist.

And then I feel a crushing weight on my chest right before my vision is cut off because a gigantic boulder has been thrown onto my body. I hear more crunching, and I can't breathe anymore. I wheeze, and grapple for breath, but body is being drained of life, and I'm dying, and there's nothing left. No light, or sound or anything.

_**Lexy, District Two**_

I smile, satisfied, when I hear his cannon go off. One more death. That means there are only nine people left. Aryan comes into my mind again.

_Was that cannon yours?_

_Yep. Nine left,_ I think to him.

_**Eve, District Seven**_

I try to send water at the barrier again, wasting my time. I've nothing else to do, and I'm definitely not about to just go out looking for the other girl in here. She seems dangerous, and I really don't want to mess with her.

The water sizzles against the wall before me, vapor rising. The shield is undeniably strong, and isn't very transparent. I can see just snippets of the other side: black tall things, and a bright orange glow. I think that place has been on fire since I got to this wall, about two days ago. That has led me to the conclusion that the arena is split into sections. Ours is water, what with the powers we have, and the one next to us is most likely fire.

I'm throwing more water at the wall when a cannon booms. I look up immediately, thinking that it might be a bomb or something in above us, but of course it's not. This is the Hunger Games, a place full of death. The boom is the signal of yet another death. I sigh, and sit down. The ground below me is freezing cold, being ice and all. I shiver, and force myself to stay put. I would lean on the barrier, but I have already experimented with that. Hurts like hell and leaves a scar.

The sky darkens around me, and soon the anthem is playing and the seal is lighting up the sky. The face of the boy from District Nine shows up. Under his name, it says 'EARTH' and has a time, probably the time he was killed.

So my guess was right. We're split up into different categories. There's water, fire, and earth. I wonder if we'll ever see the other tributes, or if we'll just have to stay alive until everyone from the other sectors dies. I don't know, but I will try to stay alive.

His face fades from the sky, but the sky stays lit. The anthem stops, and a voice comes on over us.

"Hello, girls and boys! I have a very special and important notice: there will be a feast tonight, at the very center Cornucopia. You may be wondering how you will access the middle, but of course, I have an answer for you. The walls will permanently come down tonight, and you will meld with the rest of the tributes. Each sector, as you may have noticed, has a power specific to the arena around you. But when exposed to the other arenas, you may find something shocking out. In the Feast, there will a large table set up with many delicatessens. Enter at your own risk, but you will most surely enjoy the benefits."

There's a crackling and a buzzing sound from next to me, and the wall is shimmering and vibrating and then it's just completely gone. I look over in shock, but immediately stand up. I reach my hand over, to see if it's really gone, and it is. The fire is still burning in the sector and I'm not sure how much I want to get to the feast, but I'm starving, and sometimes your stomach speaks for your mind.

I take off towards the center of the arena, high hopes in mind.

**A/N: Oh my gosh, you guys, I'm so sorry! It's been three weeks since I last updated, and I feel so bad! This one is fairly short, but I'm going to start working on a longer one later this week. I've just been terribly busy with school, and writing an original story, and I just couldn't find any time for this story. I hope you can understand me.**

**Another death. I hate to kill people off, but it needed some action, and Lukas was right there. I apologize for the murderous tendencies, Lukas. And now, we're in the final nine tributes, and that's exciting stuff!**

**Tell me your predictions and thoughts on what is to come with the barriers down now. I want to hear your favorites, as always, and who you think should win, since we're getting closer to that every time I end up updating.**

**Love you all, sorry about the wait, and please review!**

**(Oh, also: WHO SAW BEAUTIFUL CREATURES? I loved it, but it was so different from the book. Of course, they can't include every detail. Ah well. Just saying, they better do **_**Beautiful Darkness,**_** or someone's gonna pissed.)**

**Okay, I am done. Love you, bye!**__


	16. Night FiveDay Six: The Feast

Chapter 16:

Night Five/Day Six: The Feast

_**Chase, District Three**_

I look up at the sky thoughtfully, questions running in my mind. Should I go in for it? Is it really worth it? Who else will go? It's been days since I last saw Tyler and Josh. They took off right after we all found each other. Which was okay for me, since every time I looked at either of them guilt and self-hatred coursed through me, and I was disgusted. Although, being on my own is really hard. I'm such a people-person.

I stand up from my spot, with a decision and a plan. I will go to the Center Cornucopia, but if too many others are there, like the announcer said might be, I'll have to ditch. At least I know my abilities, and I am positive that I would not be able to ward anyone off.

All of the supplies in the Cornucopia have been taken by the guys, and I'm left with nothing. I guess I don't need anything. I'm a terrible person.

After walking only a couple feet, I smell the burning forest. I hear crackling and popping sounds of a fire eating away at a tree, and then I see it. The huge, glowing orange wall of fire curving around the border of our sector. I see a girl through the fire wall with long brown hair. She's being held back by something, and she looks frustrated. I would be too.

I have no clue how to get out from here. I call to her. Didn't the announcer say something about powers of different things, like air and earth and water? Maybe the girl has one of those, and she can help her.

"Hey!" I yell. The crackling and popping is really loud, so she doesn't hear me. "Hey, you!"

Finally, she turns her head and looks over at me. Fear crosses her face, but I see that she erases it. "What do you want?" she calls back. "Don't kill me!"

"I need your help…What power do you have?"

"Water," she replies, understanding what I'm asking. "But can I trust you? I can see you are fire. Please, I've made it this far, and I really didn't think I would. I need to keep going. My sister is looking up to me, man."

"And mine is looking down on me," I say quietly. She calls back with a question, asking what I said, and I brush her off. "Never mind. Could you just try to take down the fire wall here?"

"Fine, but I'm trusting you." She turns to face me completely, with her palms facing toward me. Water swirls around away from her hands, like smoke curling away from a burning log. She's shaking, but she's concentrating really hard. A huge ball of water comes shooting from her hands, and it flies right into the fire, momentarily disintegrating the flames, but it's enough for me. I sprint through to her side, right before the whole in the fire wall is evened back out.

Her eyes are closed, and she looks like she might even be in pain. She breathes hard, and I touch her arm to see if she's okay. Her head twitches up right away, the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. I smile back, but she turns her head away from me.

"Thanks…" I trail off, leaving her room to introduce herself.

"Eve, Seven," she mutters. "My real name's actually Genevieve."

I grin to her. "Chase, District Three. Good to meet you, Vieve."

She laughs a little and turns to face me again. "Never heard that one before."

I laugh too, and for a moment, it feels like we would have been friends, if we weren't in this situation and we weren't supposed to be killing each other. I sigh, remembering this. I could be killed by her at any moment. Or I could strike any second now, too. But I can't do that. Lindsey would hate me.

Now I face the wall that she has and am confused: it's only a layer of fog. Just a wall of smoke, almost. A water vapor.

"How in the hell do I get through this?" she says.

"Language," I warn her. She rolls her eyes, but is genuinely confused. "This can't be that hard to pass through," I say, reaching into the fog. My hand goes completely through the fog and I smile. This is easy. I pass on to the other side, and feel something new. Snow. It melts on my hot skin, and the cool feeling is so good, I just want to live in it forever. "Come on, Vieve. I walked through, you can too."

"I can't," she says meekly from the other side. "I don't know how you did it."

I come back through the fog. "What do you mean? It's only fog. I'm pretty sure you can walk through it." She looks at me like I'm crazy. "What?"

"Chase, that's a solid block of ice, stretching all around us." She gestures around us, to the flat part of the wall we're trying to get through, all the way to the part where it turns to border another sector of the arena.

"I don't know what you mean, there's just a bunch of fog right here," I say, a little freaked out by now. "Right?"

"The snow," she says. "The blindness, the power. Everything adds up. It affected us individually. We're seeing different things, two illusions. They're messing with our minds, Chase. Our whole bodies, actually. It feels like ice to me, but fog to you."

Something clicks in my brain, and all of the questions I had a while ago are finally being answered. It makes so much sense now. "You're brilliant."

Eve grins. "I know. Anyway, so now you need to melt the ice, or fog, so that I can get through."

I nod and bend down, cupping my hands to start a fire in them. I close my eyes and focus, picturing the fire jumping up and spitting around. My hands feel warm after a moment, and I see a small fire in them. I reach them toward the line of fog, and hope this does what it needs to do. We wait a moment, until water starts to drip down onto my head and she laughs.

"Thanks," she says as she steps forward into the fog. I stand up and follow her to the other side. We step into a completely different world. The first thing to hit me is the absolute darkness. Any sign of a raging fire is completely erased. I can't see a single thing. All around me is blackness.

It wasn't like this when I stepped over earlier. I shrug and let it go.

The second thing to get to me is the freezing cold. My bare skin is already erupting in tiny pockmarks and I'm shivering and my teeth are chattering. The snow is sideways and dumping, and the coldness cuts straight down, deep into my bones.

"Chase?" Eve asks.

"Y-y-y-yes?" I manage to stutter out.

"Do you want my jacket? I do have a sweatshirt on under this. I'll be fine."

"N-n-no. K-keep it," I reply.

Our voices cut through the silence like a knife, and I feel like we aren't supposed to be talking.

"Such a gentlemen," she mutters. I hear a zipper and then she's handing me her jacket, and I don't know why, but I'm taking it, even though it's hers, and she's already helped me enough today. My instinct just kicked in, I guess.

"T-thank you," I say gratefully. The cold has stopped greatly, and I'm so glad.

"Okay. So, now what do we do? I have no clue where we are, if anybody's here, or how to get back. It looks like we're trapped. What are we going to do?"

I shake my head, but she can't see it.

Honestly, I don't have any ideas. I'm just glad we've made it to the cold darkness. It's cold and calm and quiet here. I finally feel safe here.

_**Nic, District One**_

I've been walking since the announcement was given. I need to get to the Cornucopia, and fast. I ran out of food yesterday, and I know I can only last so long without any, so it's good to get it while I can.

I see a bright blaze not too far ahead of me, and know right away what it is: fire. I wonder what's on fire, and I know it probably is just leading to more trouble, but it's so blatantly obvious that this leads to something it's not even funny. So I just keep walking until I see the shooting orange flames that make up a wall stretching around the arena I'm in.

How do I get through this wall of fire? As I approach even more, I notice that there's a blank spot in the fire ring, and I smile to myself. It's the way to get into the Cornucopia. Maybe I can just take everyone down when I've got the opportunity so that I can return home to Rachael. I know I'll win, it's only a question of when. We're already down to the final eight or nine.

I step up all the way to the blank spot, and the air before me shimmers strangely. I give the air a confused look but shrug it off. I step through the spot, and am immediately immersed in darkness.

And then the pain starts.

**A/N: Oh dear. I can't even… I cannot begin to apologize enough to you guys. My absence is really inexcusable this time, really. I don't have an excuse except for that I was mildly busy with schoolwork and was thrown into a frenzy of reading, so I guess that's good, right?**

**Again, I'm so sorry. I AM NOT quitting any of my stories, this was just a ridiculous gap in the updates, and I will try as hard as I possibly can to get on a regular track again.**

**The death list is the same, I think, so yeah! If you want a refresher, I think the list is back on chapter before this and before that. We're down to the Final Nine, officially, and I can't wait to write the final showdown and destroy some of my friends' hopes and dreams! Hehe.**

**Okay, well I hope you all can sympathize and forgive me. I shall try to update again soon! **


	17. Night FiveDay Six: Slowly Freaking Out

Chapter 17:

Slowly Freaking Out

_**Aryan, District Two**_

Lexy has killed again. The boy's face has lit up above us, and I feel bad. But, she has gained quite a few sponsors since she killed him, and the medicines from them have helped my singed skin greatly. Though it does sting on contact, it's worth it, since the acid could very well have hurt me more internally. It might be now, but I'm hoping that the salve will heal that, too.

I sigh, looking up at the sky after the announcement. I am at war with myself right now, since that slightly sudden revelation I had on my trek. The deaths have reaped their toll on me. I think of my family, what they can possibly think of me, now that I'm a killer. I'm not entirely cold-souled, though, am I? I mean, I saved Josh a few times, right? And now, I have the chance to win, to chop people down to win, but it means hurting not only them, but the people that love them, know them. Who am I to take that away from someone?

Maybe I can go in to do some good. I know a couple of these other tributes want to end the killing, the fighting. Maybe we can protest it in the center. I mean, I know this is a little late, but better late than never, I suppose. And one life saved is better than one life lost.

I will go. I have to go, to help people, I decide.

But a twisted part in the back of my mind tells me why I want to go. I want to win so desperately. I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm a good guy, aren't I? Good guys don't win, who am I kidding? There's no beating the Capital. Ever. You have to play by their rules or suffer the punishments. Failed rebellion after failed rebellion has proven that to Panem.

So I will play by the rules.

The wicked part of me grows, like the stain of dark blood spreading across snow. The monster swells in me, and I'm afraid of letting him get bigger, but he tells me not to worry. So I don't.

My vision blurs a little, but it doesn't freak me out; I'm at ease now. This sudden feeling of halcyon is like floating on a cloud, so perfect and calm. The monster tears at me now, and his new presence is eating at me. But in a good way, like flames licking the night sky. It's all very good.

…

The Cornucopia isn't a very far walk. I'm no longer dragging myself across the arena. I'm almost sprinting to it, to my victory.

_You will win,_ Beast reminds me. I smile. I will. I can do it now, prove myself to my district. Two is better than One, and it always will be. We will have a Victor this year, and it won't be Lexy. _You,_ Beast growls, and I smile again.

I slow down as I approach the wall of fire next to a sudden gap with a strange shimmery quality to it. It is night time though, so the flames are the only thing to lighten the scene up. I see the other boy from this sector, Nic, is writhing on the ground, moaning. I step near him, and reach my hand out, but it freezes mid air. Why help him, when I can kill him here and now?

_Win, win, win, win._

The chanting from Beast is getting louder and louder until I can't take it. "Shut up!" I yell. Nic stops his yowling and looks up from his spot on the ground with fear in his brown eyes. He shivers and scampers away from me, muttering something. Does he have a Beast, too?

"The fire, the fire, it burns us all," he says suddenly. Nic's head twitches to the wall of flames to our left, and he whimpers. "Burns us all."

"Whatever," I mutter as I aim my hands at him. I focus dangerous winds in my mind and force them out onto him. His small body flies into the inferno. A cry escapes while he is in the air and I almost gasp at what I've done, but Beast is proud. _Closer. Win._

But there's no canon, and what happens is strange.

Nic crawls, hands dragging him forward, nail and all, from the fire. He is completely disformed and his face is nearly melted off, but somehow he's still alive.

_Finish! Finish now._

But I'm frozen, staring at this person's ruined body, and I can't do anything.

He opens his mouth and begins to speak what I know, what I _hope_, are his final words. "The fire… It burns… Us all." And then I am pulled from my trance and I do what I must and push him back into the fire, the flames shooting up higher and licking the inky sky, just like Beast in my mind. He whispers softly, _Closer, closer. Get in, now._

The canon goes off, and Beast begins to speak.

But I can barely hear him over another set of words racing through my mind:

_The fire burns us all. _

**A/N: Okay, this is inexcusable. I did have spring break, where I had no computer, and before that I did have testing, and was busy with room remodeling, but still, I feel terrible. I really don't want you all to think that I have abandoned this story, because I have not, and my friends would be PISSED if they had no winner, so I will most definitely finish this story. Since I have summer camp for three weeks coming up in June, I will be trying to rush and finish this story before then. I have nearly a month, and I think, with support, love, and chocolate, I can do it. I hope I still have SOME readers. If you are reading this, you rock. Thank you so much for sticking through this terrible dark time of mine. I'm so sorry, and I will update tomorrow night. I plan to do a chapter from each person's perspective for the rest of this week, since there are now eight left:**

_**Aryan, District Two**_

_**Lexy, District Two**_

_**Chase, District Three**_

_**Kaitlin, District Four**_

_**Josh, District Six**_

_**Eve, District Seven**_

_**Hannah, District Ten**_

_**Tyler, District Ten**_

**The Final Eight, ladies and gentlemen!**

**And about Aryan: What's up with the sudden insanity? Any theories? Predictions?**

**Please, vote for your favorites! Who should die? What will happen in the Cornucopia?**

**And if you can tell me what song the title of the chapter is from, you get a shout-out in the next chapter.**

**I love every one of you, thank you for reading.**

**Update = tomorrow.**


	18. Night Five: Want This More Than Life

Chapter 18:

Want This More Than Life

_**Hannah, District Ten**_

The first thing I think when I wake up is _I watched him die_. I watched the boy die, and I didn't do anything about it. Last night will haunt me forever. If I live to even remember this all. But I watched him die, and I couldn't scream out or yell or anything. I was paralyzed, and I still am. It feels like there's a huge boulder on my body, pinning me to the terribly soft grass.

The girl hasn't spotted me yet, as I'm hidden at the tree line, covered by prickly bushes and thorns. I know she will eventually find me, and my fear is that I will be murdered. Brutally. There are no weapons, and she would have to kill me with her bare hands if she couldn't get any more creative.

Besides, I'm starting to think I'll starve to death. The last time I had food was five days ago, in the Capitol. I haven't had anything to drink since the other arena, with the tainted snow, and I'm feeling the effects of dehydration. My tongue feels like cotton in my dry mouth, and when I turn my head, things seem to blur and sway. I'm really tired and my stomach is aching to the point of not hurting except for hunger jabs now and then. And they hurt when I get them.

Am I going to die like this, immobile and defenseless? Will there be a miracle for me? Do sponsors pay attention to lowlife low-district tributes like me? Or turn their heads and pretend like a fourteen year-old girl is not starving to death, with no means of getting food or water? They ignore us, is what they do. Or they cheer for our deaths, root for our killers. They're twisted and ruined, like everything in life.

Although, my life in District Ten wasn't awful. I guess it was tough, sure, with nosy Peacekeepers and the rigorous agenda of a ranching house, but family life was good. I was lucky, blessed, with my family. My older sister and younger brothers were crazy, but I loved them. Love them, present-tense, actually. So many memories of stomping through the mud and picking first daisies of spring and hiding in haylofts too late run through my mind. These things will help me stay in as long as possible; I've been trying not to pass out, not to lose consciousness. I throw memories at myself: walking barefoot across the cattle fences barefoot with Molly, avoiding splinters; teaching Ben and Tad lyrics from old songs and watching their faces light up as I sang for them; kissing Ian Golds only weeks before the Reaping. I really liked him. Now my love-life doesn't seem so important, and it's almost hazy. Most things are, now that I think of it. My memories are doing nothing to soothe my pains now.

I take in a deep breath. _Relax, you're not going insane, you're not forgetting everything._ I'm just hungry, and thirsty. What I really, really need is a sponsor, for some water or anything. But how can I get one when I can't do anything worthy?

Sympathy. I can go for the sympathy vote from the more caring sponsors. But how? I'm starving and paralyzed. What can I do to gain attention?

And what comes to mind is terrible and awful and I'm not sure if it would work, but then again, I'm desperate.

Suicide.

The Capitol would never hear of something like this, going on in their Games. Suicide is an enemy of theirs, something they cannot control, unless they attempt to save someone. Would they save me if I was bleeding out onto their land? Or would I just be another loss, added to the thousands before me? I want to believe they will notice me, that I will be seen and stopped.

I have nothing else at this point. I can't do anything, and I'm slipping more and more. I don't want to give into their world, let their washed-out character take me away. If anything, I will win in my way.

And now, the more I think about it, the more appealing this seems. The pain will stop, the sounds of screams won't echo in my mind from these damned Games. I won't give in, I'll give up. There's a difference, I want to believe. I'm going on my own terms.

But then Tad's innocent voice drifts to me, and I can see his concerned little face. _Hannah, why did you leave us? Why did you have to go? Hannah, we love you so much, what did we do? Did we love you enough? _Tears spring to my eyes. I try to blink them away, but when I look up, everything is still blurred and slow-moving. His voice is whispering around me, dancing along the swaying tree limbs, and I look around me, tears I know aren't there coming.

The light is flickering and dulling and blurring and I can't really see anything anymore. Am I dying?

_Why? Didn't we do enough for you? You promised to come home, Hannah. Come home, Hannah. Please make it, Hannah. Please._

"I love you guys so much," I whisper, my voice hoarse. "Please forgive me. We can win."

More voices: _I've loved you since I saw you, Hannah. We're young, but I love you, Hannah._ And, _You go in there, and you win, because you're smart enough, and you're strong enough, Hannah, don't you dare forget this. _

Tears stream down my mother's face as she holds me tight. I don't know if this is real life or a dream or a memory, but I'm so comfortable here. _I love you, baby. Please, come home for us. We need you so much._ And tears stream down my own face, and I try to reply, to let her know I can hear her, but nothing comes out or happens.

_But I can't win. I'm not coming home,_ I think to her, and she squeezes me tighter, her tears soaking my shoulder. I cry back because I'm causing her this much pain and I become numb in her hold, like I'm melting. I don't exist anymore. Slipping away, letting go.

I am not anything but the air people breathe. I am gone, and suicide wasn't even needed.

Nature did her job so that the Capitol couldn't.

I smile, in my mind's eye or in real life, I don't know, but I really smile before nothing else exists.

_I love you all, remember, they cannot take it away._

**A/N: This was a very hard chapter to write, partly because it dealt with suicide, and of course that subject is extremely delicate, and also because writing with Hannah's brother's small voice was so heartbreaking. I'm just glad I got it up.**

**Thank you who reviewed and left your thoughts on last night's chapter. That means so much to me, and I know you all have heard that a million times from me, but as an author, having readers is just such a great feeling, as I'm sure you all know. So again, thank you.**

**If I was a bit confusing in this chapter, that was meant to be, since Hannah was confused with her deliria from the starvation and dehydration, and I wanted to portray this at least slightly realistic.**

**Quite a few people recognized the song from the last chapter, and it was from **_**The Host**_**, which could have been quite a lot better than it was, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it. Shout-out to ****shady66730 ****and ****Dancingchoclatesmudge.**** (okay, only two people, but that's more than I anticipated!) So, your reviews encouraged me to name other chapter titles after songs that sound like it. Or remind me of it. Any suggestions for certain characters would be AMAZING.**

**Alright, here's who's left:**

**District Two: Lexy and Aryan**

**District Three: Chase**

**District Four: Kaitlin**

**District Six: Josh**

**District Seven: Eve**

**District Ten: Tyler**

**Final Seven, and things are going to slow down drastically. **

**Again, vote for who you love, and give me Mutt ideas. Anything helps! I love all reviews, too. Thank you all. And tell me who should be seen from next.**

**You guys are awesome. **

**Tomorrow!**


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